lAVARR 

MrCUERITE  DE  VALOIS 

BVI  io"fr<-i  \-C-P-HAGGARD 


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THE  AMOURS  OF  HENRI  DE  NAVARRE 
AND  OF    MARGUERITE    DE   VALOIS 


cTC^'n^t^  .,€:^  (L^/^ 


O't^a^A^ey 


T 


HE  AMOURS  OF  i*  J*  J«f 
HENRI  DE  NAVARRE  and  of 
MARGUERITE  DE  VALOIS 

By  Lieutenant-Colonel  ANDREW   C.    P. 
HAGGARD,   D.S.O. 

Author  of   "  Sidelights  on  the  Court  of   France,"  "  Louis 
XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette,"  "Two  Great  Rivals,"  etc. 


WITH  PHOTOGRAVURE  FRONTISPIECE 
AND  NUMEROUS  ILLUSTRATIONS 


New  York 

BRENTANO'S 

1910 


PRINTED  BY 

HAZELI.,   WATSON   AND   VINEV,   LD., 

LONDON   AND   AVI.KSBURV, 

ENGLAND. 


GIFT 


HAf/J 


.    CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

HENRI    AND    MARGUERITE      .  .  .  .  .11 

CHAPTER   H 

Henri's  parentage  and  early  years   .    .   i6 

CHAPTER   III 

early  amours  of  "  le  bearnais  "     .         .         .24 

CHAPTER    IV 
HENRI    DE    NAVARRE    AND    ESTHER  ...  32 

CHAPTER   V 
THE    CORRUPT    COURT    OF    CATHERINE     .  .  .  4I 

CHAPTER   VI 
THE    MARRIAGE    AND    WHAT    FOLLOWED  .  .  52 

CHAPTER  VII 
THE    NIGHT    OF    THE    MASSACRE      .  .  .  .  67 

CHAPTER   VIII 
THREE    PRODIGAL    PRINCES     .  .  .  ,         .    .  74 

5 


033 


6  Contents 

CHAPTER    IX 

PAGE 

HENRI    AND    MADAME    DE    SAUVE  ....  84 


CHAPTER  X 

MARGUERITE    AND    LA    MOLE 


95 


CHAPTER   XI 
MARGUERITE    AND    BUSSY    d'aMBOISE       ."  .  .        I07 

CHAPTER   XII 
HENRI    ESCAPES    FROM     PARIS  ....        I20 

CHAPTER   XIII 
VIOLENT    DEATH    OF    DU    GUAST    AND    BUSSY    .  .        I36 

CHAPTER   XIV 
HENRI    IN    LOVE,    MARGUERITE    ARRESTED       .  .       I47 

CHAPTER  XV 

marguerite's  manoeuvres  ....      159 

CHAPTER    XVI 
marguerite    goes    to    NAVARRE  .  .  '174 

CHAPTER   XVII 
MARGUERITE    AND    THE    VICOMTE  .  .  .        185 

CHAPTER   XVIII 
FOSSEUSE    AND    THE    LOVERs'    WAR  .  .  .        I95 

CHAPTER   XIX 
THE    CONQUEST    QF    FQSSEVSE  ,  ,  ,  .       2O4 


Contents  7 

CHAPTER  XX 

PAGE 

FOSSEUSE    AND    MARGUERITE  .  .  .  .       215 

CHAPTER   XXI 
THE    END    OF    FOSSEUSE  .....       221 

CHAPTER   XXn 
MARGUERITE    AND    CHAMPVALLON  .  .  .       23I 

CHAPTER  XXHI 
THE    DISGRACE    OF    MARGUERITE     ....       24I 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
LA    BELLE    CORISANDE  ......       25I 

CHAPTER  XXV 
MARGUERITE    QUEEN    OF    AGEN        ....       264 

CHAPTER   XXVI 
THE    FLAGS    OF    COUTRAS  .....        275 

CHAPTER  XXVII 
MARGUERITE,    QUEEN    OF    HEARTS,    AND    OF    USSON  .       283 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 
THE    LOVE-LETTERS    TO    CORISANDE  .  .  .       298 

CHAPTER   XXIX 
HENRI    AT    ARQUES    AND    IVRY  ....       308 

CHAPTER   XXX 
HOW    HENRI    TREATED    HIS    SISTER  .  .  •       3^7 


8  Contents 

CHAPTER  XXXI 

FAGE 

THE    KING    MEETS    "  CHARMANTE    GABRIELLE  "  .       324 

CHAPTER  XXXII 
GABRIELLE    AND    THE    REAL    HENRY    IV.  .  .       335 

CHAPTER  XXXIII 
HENRl's    JEALOUSY    OF    BELLEGARDE         .  .  .       346 

CHAPTER  XXXIV 
GABRIELLE    d'eSTr£eS    ALMOST    QUEEN    .  .  .       357 

CHAPTER  XXXV 
THE    TERRIBLE    DEATH    OF    GABRIELLE    .  .  .       369 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 
THE    HOME-COMING    OF    MARGUERITE      .  .  .       379 

CHAPTER   XXXVII 
HENRI    AND    HENRIETTE  .....       387 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII 
HENRI    ENSLAVED    BY    THE    MARQUISE     .  .  .       4O2 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 
THE    LAST    DAYS    OF    MARGUERITE  .  .  .       4I  I 

CHAPTER    XL 
HENRl's    NOBLE    DESIGN    AND    LAST    LOVE  .  .       4I9 

INDEX 433 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


HENRI  DE  NAVARRE Ffonttspieca 

From  "  Sidelights  on  the  Court  of  France." 

PAOB 

MARGUERITE   DE   VALOIS,   AS   A   CHILD 43 

AUribuled  to  F.  Clouet,  1557. 

GASPARD   DE  COLIGNY,   SEIGNEUR    DE   CHATILLON        •  •  •  •         55 

Amiral  de  Prance. 

THE   QUEEN   OF   NAVARRE   (1572) 63 

Marguerite  de  Valois,  Daughter  of  Henri  II.  and  Catherine  de  M^dicis. 
Portrait  in  the  Bibliothique  Naiionale. 

HENRI  DE  NAVARRE,  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN 8 1 

From  a  contemporary  drawing  in  the  Collection  Hennin. 

CHARLES    IX.,    KING    OF    FRANCE 9I 

Second  Son  of  Catherine  de  MMicis. 
From  a  painting  by  F.  Clouet. 

JOSEPH    DE   BONIFACE,   SEIGNEUR   DE   LA   MOLE  ....       IO3 

After  Decapitation. 

From  a  sketch  in  the  Bibliothique  Naiionale. 

LOUIS   DE   BERANGER   DU   GUAST II7 

From  a  sketch  in  the  Bibliothique  Naiionale, 

HENRI   III.,    KING   OF  FRANCE I33 

Third  Son  of  Catherine  de  M6dicis. 

LOUIS    DE   CLERMONT    D'AMBOISE,    SEIGNEUR    DE    BUSSY       .  .  .       I43 

From  a  portrait  in  the  Chdleau  de  Beauregard. 

MARGUERITE   DE   VALOIS,   QUEEN    OF   NAVARRE  ,  »  .  .       167 

9 


lo  List  of  Illustrations 


PAOS 

HENRI    DE   BOURBON,    PRINCE   DE   CONDE 259 

From  an  old  Print  after  Janet. 

QUEEN    CATHERINE   DE   MEDICIS 287 

Widow  of  Henri  II.  of  France. 

GABRIELLE    d'ESTREES,    DUCHESSE   DE   BEAUFORT         ....      327 

QUEEN    MARIE    DE   MEDICIS 397 

Second  Wife  of  Henri  IV. 

RAVAILLAC,    ASSASSIN    OF   HENRI  IV.   .  .         "  .  .  .  .  .      423 

From  an  old  Print. 

PLASTER   CAST   OF   HENRI   IV.    OF   FRANCE    AND   NAVARRE    .  .  .      427 

Taken  during  the  French  Revolution,  183  years  after  his  death. 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 
and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois 

CHAPTER   I 
Henri  and  Marguerite 

Henri  de  Navarre — the  gallant  Henri  IV. ;  Marguerite 
de  Valois — famous  as  La  Reine  Margot — these  are  two 
names  which  will  never  be  forgotten  in  France. 

The  former  was  the  first  of  the  Bourbons  to  ascend 
the  French  throne  ;  the  latter,  Henri's  cousin  and  first 
wife,  the  last  legitimate  representative  of  the  Valois 
dynasty. 

While  France  still  looks  back  with  pride  to  the 
"Bearnais,"  the  Prince  who,  originally  a  Protestant, 
fought  so  nobly  to  establish  himself  on  a  Catholic  throne, 
it  is  not  merely  on  account  of  his  bravery  and  his  sub- 
sequent humanity  that  he  maintains  a  place  in  the  heart 
of  her  people.  There  is  another  reason  to  endear  the 
name  of  Henri  de  Navarre  to  a  race  always  frivolous, 
gay,  and  light-hearted.  This  is  that  the  immense  number 
of  his  affaires  de  cceur^  the  innumerable  love-intrigues  by 
which  the  Navarrese  Prince  made  himself  famous,  proved 
him  to  be  so  essentially  a  Frenchman,  one  of  the  people 
themselves. 

II 


12  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Gallant  in  both  senses  of  the  word,  Henri  stands  out 
by  his  amours  as  by  his  prowess  in  the  tented  field  ; 
whether  in  pursuit  of  a  lady  or  of  an  enemy,  he  was 
deterred  by  no  difficulties,  shrank  before  no  obstacles. 
The  Frenchman  or  Frenchwoman  of  to-day  yet  speaks 
complacently  of  this  preux  chevalier,  of  their  King  who 
so  gaily  shone  alike  in  the  battle-field  and  in  the  boudoir. 

Things  being  thus,  it  is  no  matter  of  astonishment  if, 
whether  as  Kingdom,  Empire,  or  Republic,  France  has 
ever  maintained  Henry  IV.  on  his  pedestal  as  a  national 
hero  ;  if,  even  during  the  bloody  days  of  the  Reign  of 
Terror,  the  sans-culottes  who  flung  out  upon  the  dunghill 
the  bones  of  the  other  Kings  spared  the  dust  of  Henri 
de  Navarre.  Neither  does  the  France  of  to-day  ever 
forget  the  fact  that  this  brave  and  libertine  Prince  often 
expressed  the  wish  '*  that  every  peasant  might  have  a 
fowl  in  the  pot "  for  his  Sunday's  dinner. 

Long-headed,  shrewd,  good-humoured,  calculating, 
devil-may-care,  ungrateful,  and  amorous  to  excess — such 
were  the  attributes  of  the  Protestant  son  of  the  Bourbon 
Prince,  Antoine  Due  de  Bourbon,  and  Jeanne  d'Albret, 
Queen  of  Navarre  in  her  own  right.  This  Princess  was 
the  niece  of  Francois  I.,  and  first  cousin  of  Henri  II., 
King  of  France,  while  Henri  II.  was  the  father  of 
Marguerite  de  Valois,  who  was  the  youngest  of  his 
children  by  Catherine  de  Medicis,  of  evil  memory. 

While  even  by  his  best  friends  Henri  de  Navarre, 
Prince  de  Beam,  could  never  have  been  described  as 
being  handsome,  his  cousin  Marguerite  was  the  beauty 
of  her  day.  Discounting,  as  we  must,  the  fulsome  praise 
and  adulation  of  Brantome,  in  his  Vies  des  Dames  lllustres^ 
there  is  plenty  of  testimony  to  this  eflfect,  independent  of 
that  of  Pierre  de  Bourdeille,  a  courtier  who,  when  only 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  13 

sixteen  years  of  age,  had  been  presented  with  the  revenues 
of  that  Abbey  of  Brant^me,  of  which  the  name  clung  to 
him  as  being  its  Abbe  et  Seigneur. 

In  other  matters  than  where  good  looks  were  con- 
cerned there  were  various  points  of  resemblance  between 
the  youthful  Marguerite  and  her  Navarrese  cousin.  In 
an  age  of  inhumanity  she  showed  herself  a  humane 
Princess — indeed,  only  two  assassinations  are  laid  to  the 
charge  of  this  daughter  of  a  Florentine  mother — and 
these  more  or  less  justified  by  the  ethics  of  the  day. 
Courage  she  undoubtedly  possessed,  but  of  morals,  like 
Henri  de  Navarre,  from  her  tenderest  years  Marguerite 
was  utterly  devoid.  Before,  in  his  boyhood,  the  hero  of 
Arques  and  Ivry  had  commenced  to  embark  upon  his 
lifelong  course  of  love-making,  Marguerite  had  already 
commenced  her  career  of  youthful  gallantry — a  career 
only  to  terminate  with  her  death  at  an  advanced  age. 

In  one  respect,  above  all  others,  did  Marguerite 
resemble  Henri  :  this  was  in  her  light-heartedness  under 
misfortune,  and  her  extraordinary  capability  of  getting 
the  best  out  of  a  bad  situation.  By  her  smiles,  her 
cajoleries,  and  her  immoralities,  we  find  her  at  one  time 
practically  reduced  to  defending  herself,  in  a  state  of 
warfare,  against  both  her  despicable  and  immoral  brother, 
Henri  III.,  and  her  virile  and  immoral  husband,  the 
King  of  Navarre.  Yet  what  does  she  do  ?  By  the 
adroit  use  of  these  very  smiles  and  cajoleries  the  frivolous 
Queen  takes  the  captor  captive.  The  commander  of  her 
brother's  forces,  who  holds  her  a  prisoner  in  a  strong 
fortress,  falls  at  her  feet — even  his  wife  becomes  her  tool 
owing  to  her  flatteries.  She  takes  advantage  of  their 
weakness  to  make  her  gaoler  join  the  King's  enemies, 
then    puts   out    both  husband   and   wife,  and   reigns  for 


14  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

many  years  as  Queen  in  a  small  but  absolute  Sovereignty 
of  her  own.  Thence  she  cannot  be  ejected  by  either  her 
brother  before  his  assassination  or  her  husband  when, 
after  that  event,  he  becomes  the  King  of  France.  Her 
castle  is  the  perpetual  abode  of  love,  her  servitors  are 
bound  to  her  not  only  by  the  allegiance  of  a  subject  to 
a  Monarch,  but  by  that  of  the  lover  to  the  bright  eyes 
of  his  mistress. 

Clever  woman  as  she  is,  eventually,  when  the  proper 
time  arrives,  Marguerite  makes  terms  with  her  husband, 
helps  him  to  obtain  a  divorce  against  herself,  issues  from 
her  retreat,  comes  to  Paris,  and  lives  on  most  affectionate 
sisterly  relations  with  one  whose  glaring  lapses  from 
marital  fidelity  had  formerly  been  no  less  remarkable  than 
her  own. 

Owing  to  the  mutual  tolerance  of  this  singularly  good- 
natured  couple,  it  is  evident  from  the  denouement  that 
there  need  never  have  been  any  serious  cause  for  dis- 
agreement between  them  save  for  two  reasons.  The 
first  of  these  was  the  deliberate  stirring  up  of  strife 
between  them  by  interested  myrmidons  and  minions,  male 
and  female,  of  Marguerite's  mother,  Catherine  de  M^dicis, 
and  her  brother,  Henri  III. — above  all  by  Henri  III. 
himself.  The  second  reason  was  that  Marguerite,  al- 
though some  chroniclers  credit  her  with  having  been  the 
mother  of  one,  others  of  two  illegitimate  sons,  was  never 
fortunate  enough  to  present  her  husband  with  an  heir, 
whose  appearance  would  have  consolidated  her  position, 
and  rendered  all  the  machinations  of  her  enemies  of  no 
account. 

A  further  point  of  similarity  between  the  Bourbon 
Prince  and  the  Valois  Princess  with  whom  we  shall 
concern  ourselves  in  these  pages,  lay  in  the  absence  of 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  15 

heart,  the  want  of  prolonged  and  sustained  depth  of 
feeling,  by  which  each  was  characterised.  While  the 
proneness  to  sudden  affection  and  passion,  the  readiness 
to  commit  any  folly  to  gratify  the  desire  of  the  moment 
were  the  attributes  of  both,  no  sooner  was  either  the  one 
or  the  other  of  this  Royal  couple  deprived  of  the  object 
of  the  devotion  of  the  hour  than  the  presence  of  some 
new  object  of  pursuit  wiped  out  all  memory  of  the  past. 

There  was  a  slight  dissimilarity  between  them,  how- 
ever. While  Henri  IV.,  after  eventually  gaining  a  firm 
seat  upon  the  throne,  treated  all  his  old  co-religionists 
among  the  Huguenots,  who  had  fought  by  his  side,  with 
the  utmost  ingratitude  and  forgetfulness,  and  never  gave 
a  thought  to  his  former  mistresses,  Marguerite  both 
herself  wrote  and  caused  others  to  write  for  her  tender 
and  sentimental  verses  in  memory  of  her  former  lovers. 
Moreover,  she  is  said  to  have  preserved  the  hearts  of 
those  who  were  dead,  and  they  were  many,  in  silver  boxes, 
which  she  carried,  in  the  numerous  pockets  of  her 
immense  farthingale  or  crinoline,  around  her  person. 


CHAPTER  11 
Henri's  Parentage  and  Early  Years 

1553— 1568 

Henrt  de  Navarre  sprung  from  a  fine  fighting  stock 

of  turbulent  ancestors  on  both  his  father's  and  mother's 

side.     Through  his  mother  he  was  descended  from  those 

riotous  princes  of  the  Pyrenean  frontier — the  d'Albrets 

and  de  Foix — who  had  ruled  the  kingdom  of  Navarre, 

either  in  their  own  right  or  that  of  their  wives,  for  about 

a   hundred   years  before  he  first   saw  the  light  at   Pau, 

on  December  14th,  1553.     These  Princes  of  Gascony,  in 

whose  veins  ran  much  Spanish  blood,  were  by  no  means 

celebrated  for  the  purity  of  their  mode  of  living,   and 

most  of  them  were  not  only  warlike    but    cruel,    ever 

as  ready  to  slit  the  throat  of  a    near   relative   as   that 

of  an   enemy  of  a  different   race.     The  Kingdom  over 

which  they  ruled,  that  of  Navarre,  lay    on    both   sides 

of  the  Pyrenees,  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  it  being 

on   the   Spanish   side  of  the  mountain  chain,   until,    in 

the  year    1512,   Ferdinand  and   Isabella   wrested    all   of 

Spanish  Navarre  from  Queen  Catherine  de  Foix  and  her 

husband.  King  Jean  d'Albret.     Thereafter,  with  Lower 

or  French  Navarre,  B6arn  and  Albret,  which  latter  was 

a  fief  of  the  French  Crown,  the  Kings  and  Queens  of 

Navarre  ^held  large  possessions  in  France,  and .  also  the 

16 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  17 

rank  of  Lieutenant  of  the  King  of  France  in  the  province 
of  Guyenne. 

In  the  time  of  Jeanne  d'Albret's  father  and  mother, 
Henri  II.  d'Albret  and  Marguerite  d'Angouleme,  sister 
of  Francois  I,  of  France,  great  improvements  had  been 
made  in  the  two  capitals  of  the  restricted  kingdom  that 
remained  to  them.  These  were  N6rac,  in  the  north  of 
Beam,  and  Pau  in  the  south,  and  while,  by  the  taste 
of  the  refined  Queen  Marguerite,  the  Royal  castles  in 
these  places  were  modernised  and  beautified  with  all  the 
spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  the  surrounding  country  was 
reclaimed  from  savagery  by  her  husband,  and  richly 
cultivated. 

If  Henri  II.  was  as  capable  as  an  agriculturist  as  he 
was  courageous  in  war,  this  Prince  of  the  House  of 
Albret,  who  was  eleven  years  his  wife's  junior,  was 
notoriously  a  bad  husband,  one  whose  infidelities  were 
so  openly  indulged  in  as  to  rival  the  conduct  at  the 
French  Court  of  his  brother-in-law,  Francois  I. 

When  Marguerite  died  Jeanne  d'Albret  and  her  hus- 
band, Antoine  de  Bourbon,  Due  de  Vendome,  hurried  from 
France  to  Navarre,  fearing  lest  the  King  of  Navarre 
should,  by  his  will,  make  over  the  whole  of  his  posses- 
sions to  his  various  mistresses.  Jeanne,  who  had  already 
lost  two  boys  from  the  carelessness  of  their  nurses,  was 
enceinte  at  the  time  of  her  arrival  at  Pau.  When  she 
begged  her  father  to  leave  his  Kingdom  to  his  expected 
oflfspring,  Henri  d'Albret,  who  was  of  a  jocular  turn  of 
mind,  promised  to  do  so  upon  a  singular  condition. 
This  was  that,  in  return  for  a  will  made  in  the  child's 
favour  delivered  over  into  her  keeping,  Jeanne  was  to 
sing  lustily  a  Basque  hymn  to  the  Virgin  during  the 
period  of  her  accouchement.     The  reason    for   this  ex- 

2 


1 8  The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

traordinary  request  was,  so  said  the  King  of  Navarre, 
that,  two  puling  infants  having  already  been  lost,  he 
wished  this  time  to  have  no  whimpering  but  a  lusty  baby 
brought  into  the  world. 

Jeanne  complied  with  her  father's  wishes,  and  thus,  in 
the  most  extraordinary  manner  on  record,  was  the  famous 
Prince  of  B6arn  brought  into  the  world. 

His  grandfather's  conduct  was  as  strange  to  the  new- 
born infant  as  it  had  already  been  to  the  mother. 
Taking  the  child  in  his  arms  wrapped  in  a  dressing-gown. 
King  Henri  II.  rubbed  its  gums  with  garlic,  and  then 
compelled  it  to  drink,  not  milk,  but  Gascon  wine.  Strange 
to  relate,  the  infant,  named  Henri  after  his  grandfather, 
survived,  but  not  without  difficulty,  that  grandfather's 
kind  attentions  and  initial  hospitality.  No  less  than 
eight  wet  nurses  had  to  be  found,  and  tried,  before  the 
boy  could  be  induced  to  take  his  food  properly. 

A  few  years  later  Jeanne  succeeded  her  father  on  the 
throne  of  Navarre,  and,  after  deep  thought,  adopted  the 
Reformed  religion.  From  her  earliest  youth  she  had 
been  a  Princess  of  great  determination,  as  had  been 
shown  in  the  case  of  her  first  and  forced  marriage  to  the 
Duke  of  Cleves,  when  she  refused  to  go  to  the  altar 
until  her  uncle,  Fran9ois  I.,  caused  her  to  be  carried 
thither  by  the  Constable  Anne  de  Montmorency.  Her 
self-will,  however,  prevailed  over  that  of  her  uncle — she 
never  lived  with  the  Duke  of  Cleves,  who  eventually 
divorced  her  in  consequence.  By  no  means  too  straight- 
laced  in  her  youth,  no  Princess  enjoyed  herself  more, 
or  was  more  extravagant  than  was  Jeanne  d'Albret,  until 
she  married  that  giddy  young  Prince  of  the  Blood 
Royal,  Antoine  de  Bourbon,  her  union  with  whom 
was   as   much    the   result   of   mutual   admiration    as   of 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  19 

the  policy  of  King  Henri   II.   of  France,  Jeanne's  first 
cousin. 

Antoine,  who  by  courtesy  was  called  King  of  Navarre, 
was  dashing  but  dissipated.  Although,  while  making  the 
Reformed  religion  that  of  her  Kingdom,  Jeanne  made  of 
her  husband  a  Protestant  also,  she  found  that  he  was  not 
to  be  relied  upon  to  be  either  true  to  his  religion  or 
to  her. 

In  the  religious  wars  which  commenced  in  France  after 
the  reign  of  Henri  II.  the  King  of  Navarre  was,  like  his 
brother  Louis,  first  Prince  de  Cond6,  to  be  found  at  first 
on  the  side  of  the  Huguenots.  After,  in  1559,  Henri  II. 
had  been  accidentally  killed  in  a  tourney  by  the  lance  of 
Gabriel  Montgomery,  Comte  de  Lorges,  Captain  of  the 
Scottish  Archers,  Catherine  de  M^dicis  assumed  that 
supremacy  in  the  kingdom  of  France  which  she  retained 
during  the  reigns  of  her  three  sons — Fran9ois  II.,  Charles 
IX.,  and  Henri  HI.  The  Florentine  Queen  having, 
after  considerable  vacillation,  made  up  her  mind  that  the 
Catholic  party  was  likely  to  prove  the  stronger,  ceased  to 
allow  the  open  indulgence  at  Court  of  the  Reformed 
religion  which  she  had  previously  encouraged.  She  now 
attempted  the  seduction  of  both  Antoine  and  his  brother 
Cond^  by  the  use  of  the  wiles  of  her  gang  of  immoral 
so-called  ladies  of  honour,  who  passed  by  the  name  of  the 
Queen-mother's  Flying  Squadron. 

The  King  of  Navarre  was  soon  completely  subjugated 
by  one  of  these  fascinating  sirens,  named  Mademoiselle 
du  Rouet ;  while  Louis  de  Conde,  after  being  imprisoned, 
and  released  when  Francois  II.  died  in  1560,  was  captured 
in  a  similar  manner  by  the  lascivious  graces  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Limeuil. 

Antoine  de  Bourbon  was  appointed  Lieutenant-General 


20  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

of  the  Kingdom  of  France,  and,  greatly  to  the  distress 
of  his  wife,  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  by  the 
Cardinal  de  Lorraine  and  his  brother,  the  Due  Fran9ois 
de  Guise,  to  revert  to  the  Catholic  faith.  The  bait  they 
held  out  to  him  was  the  hand  of  the  young  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots,  widow  of  Fran9ois  II.  Jeanne,  of  course,  was, 
so  they  said,  to  be  divorced  as  being  a  heretic.  Dissension 
was  at  the  same  time  stirred  up  between  King  Antoine 
of  Navarre  and  his  brother  the  Prince  de  Conde. 

Antoine,  quite  contented  with  his  pretty  mistress  of 
the  Flying  Squadron,  did  not  seek  a  divorce  from  his 
wife,  but  determined  instead  to  attempt  her  conversion. 
The  home-truths  which  this  fickle  Prince  now  heard 
from  the  Queen  of  Navarre  not  only  irritated  him  but 
filled  him  with  shame.  Although,  as  she  was  in  France, 
of  which  Kingdom  he  was  Lieutenant-General,  he  did 
not  dare  to  arrest  his  wife,  a  Queen  in  her  own  right, 
openly,  Antoine  sought  to  do  so  secretly  in  his  own 
appanage  of  Vendome,  to  which  he  ordered  her  to  repair, 
while  leaving  her  nine-year-old  son,  the  Prince  de  B6arn, 
in  his  hands,  to  be  made  into  a  Catholic. 

Jeanne  d'Albret  was  a  great  deal  too  clever  a  woman 
not  to  see  through  her  husband's  designs.  Before  leaving 
the  French  Court  she  admonished  the  youthful  Henri, 
made  him  swear  not  to  allow  his  faith  to  be  tampered 
with,  and  vowed  to  repudiate  him  as  her  son,  and  to 
disinherit  him,  should  he  be  persuaded  to  do  so.  Then, 
instead  of  proceeding  to  Vendome,  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
took  an  entirely  unexpected  route,  and,  after  having  been 
very  ill  on  the  road,  as  the  result  of  the  shock  caused 
by  her  husband's  baseness,  arrived  in  safety  at  Nerac, 
having  taken  with  her  Catherine,  her  little  daughter, 
then   three  years  of  age.     She   never  saw  her    husband 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  21 

again,  for  Antoine  de  Bourbon,  while  fighting  on  the 
side  opposed  to  his  brother,  was  wounded  while  capturing 
the  city  of  Rouen,  which  he  had  entered  by  the  breach. 

For  three  weeks  the  King  of  Navarre  lingered  here, 
attended  by  Mademoiselle  du  Rouet,  with  whom  he 
was  planning  to  lead  a  delightful  future  in  a  Kingdom 
which  he  proposed  to  establish  in  the  Isle  of  Sardinia, 
when  death  tore  him  from  her  arms,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
two.  He  reverted  once  more  to  the  Huguenot  faith 
in  his  last  moments,  and  wrote  a  tender  farewell  to 
his  wife,  which  contained  many  wise  counsels  which  he 
would  have  done  well  to  have  observed  himself. 

A  truce  having  taken  place  between  the  Huguenots 
and  the  Catholics,  Jeanne  d'Albret,  who  had  been 
vigorously  supporting  the  former,  now  returned  to  the 
French  Court,  to  withdraw  her  son  from  that  nest  of 
iniquity  presided  over  by  the  shameless  Catherine  de 
Medicis.  Charles  IX.,  not  yet  fourteen  years  of  age,  had 
succeeded  his  brother  Francois  II.  on  the  throne.  From 
this  boy  the  Queen  of  Navarre  obtained  the  permission 
she  sought  to  take  away  the  youthful  Henri,  and, 
knowing  that  Catherine  de  Medicis  had  not  been  con- 
sulted, hurried  away  with  him  at  once  to  Beam  before 
the  Queen-Mother  had  time  to  interfere. 

No  sooner  had  she  returned  to  her  Kingdom  than  this 
courageous  Queen  learned  that  Philip  II.  was  about  to 
hurl  all  the  might  of  Spain  against  her,  with  the  view  of 
dragging  her  and  her  children  before  the  Inquisition. 
Far  from  showing  any  fear,  Jeanne  visited  in  person  all 
the  fortresses  of  B^arn  and  put  them  in  good  repair,  then 
repaired  in  person  to  a  strong  castle  in  Lower  Navarre, 
where,  with  the  ladies  of  her  Court  and  her  children,  she 
prepared  to  stand  a  siege. 


22  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Jeanne's  boldness  saved  her  from  a  siege,  but,  at 
the  instigation  of  Phihp  II.,  the  Queen  of  Navarre  was 
cited  to  appear  before  the  Pope,  to  answer  an  accusation  of 
heresy,  Jeanne  now  threw  herself  upon  the  protection 
of  Charles  IX.,  whose  vassal  she  was  for  the  principality 
of  Albret.  Her  liege  lord  did  not  desert  her.  Charles  IX. 
wrote  an  angry  letter  to  Pope  Pius  IX.,  asserting  his 
rights  as  Suzerain  over  the  dominions  of  Albret,  and 
warning  his  Holiness  to  keep  his  hands  off  the  Queen 
of  Navarre,  and  also  of  some  French  Bishops  in  those 
domains  who  had  been  likewise  summoned  to  Rome 
before  the  Inquisition.  The  Pope,  even  to  please  Spain, 
was  not  prepared  to  risk  a  war  with  France  ;  thus  he 
drew  in  his  horns  and  cancelled  the  summons,  where- 
upon Jeanne  left  her  fortified  castle  in  Lower  Navarre 
and  returned  to  Nerac. 

Here,  while  this  excellent  Queen  personally  super- 
intended the  education  of  her  daughter,  Catherine  de 
Bourbon,  she  encouraged  the  bringing  up  of  her  son  in 
the  manner  which  had  been  recommended  to  her  by  her 
own  sturdy  father.  This  was  after  the  fashion  of  a  bold 
mountaineer.  Henri  was  trained  to  climb  the  rocks 
bare-foot  after  wolf,  chamois,  or  bear  ;  he  was  taught  to 
learn  to  be  frugal  in  his  habits,  and  to  do  a  long  day's 
hard  hunting  without  food.  He  was  given  a  teacher 
of  the  Reformed  religion,  named  La  Gaucherie,  who 
was  encouraged  to  use,  rather  than  to  spare,  the  rod 
on  the  back  of  his  royal  pupil.  In  after-life  Henri 
was  wont  to  say  that  he  had  found  nothing  so  profit- 
able as  being  well  thrashed,  and  recommended  the 
same  methods  being  followed  with  his  son,  afterwards 
Louis  XIII. 

It  must  be   remembered   that  Jeanne   d' Albret   had 


and  of  Marguerite  dc  Valois  23 

herself  been  frequently  flogged  in  her  childhood,  for 
refusing  to  marry  the  Duke  of  Cleves,  but  without 
effect.  Similarly,  the  thrashings  so  frequently  admini- 
stered to  her  young  son  seem,  alas  !  to  have  been 
useless  as  a  means  of  drumming  into  him  any  idea  of 
morality. 


CHAPTER    III 
Early  Amours  of  **  Le  Bearnais 


tf 


The  youthful  Henri,  in  addition  to  becoming  a  hardy 
hunter,  was  early  trained  in  all  warlike  exercises.  By 
the  time  that  he  had  attained  his  fifteenth  year  there  was 
no  young  noble  in  the  Kingdom  of  Navarre  with  whom 
he  was  unable  to  contend,  upon  equal  terms,  in  all  the 
knightly  exercises  of  fencing  on  foot  with  broadsword 
or  small-sword,  jousting  with  the  lance  on  horseback,  or 
tilting  at  the  ring.  Henri  became  a  man  before  his 
time,  and  even  at  this  early  age  became  corrupted  by  the 
loose  standard  of  morality  of  the  day,  which  insisted  that 
it  was  necessary  for  a  gallant  young  Prince  to  provide 
himself  with  a  mistress.  Ah  !  if  it  had  only  been  one  ! 
but  had  that  been  the  case  there  would  have  been  but 
little  love-interest  in  the  career  of  the  Prince,  who  was 
known  as  the  veri  galant  monarque,  and  whose  long 
series  of  amorous  adventures  contained  so  much  that 
was  romantic. 

In  the  long  list  of  fifty-six  mistresses  of  Henri  IV., 
compiled  from  contemporary  records  by  M.  de  Lescure 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century — a  list  which  that 
historian  rightly  says  is  incomplete — the  eighth  name  is 
that  of  Fleurette. 

This  young  girl  is  called  by  other  writers  Florette,  and 
she    is   generally   designated  by  them  as  being,  not  the 


The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre  25 

eighth,  but  the  first  object  of  the  adoration  of  Henri 
de  Navarre.  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  head  gardener 
of  the  Chateau  de  Nerac,  was  sprightly,  with  laughing 
dark  eyes,  and  not  more  than  a  couple  of  years  older 
than  tihe  Prince.  By  this  demoiselle  of  B6arn,  of  plebeian 
origin ,  the  precocious  Henri  became  a  father  for  the  first 
time.  What  became  of  her,  subsequently,  or  of  the 
child  that  she  bore  to  the  future  King  of  Navarre,  and 
later  of  France,  the  records  do  not  say.  Even  had  the 
Prince  of  Beam,  afterwards  so  ready  to  publicly  acknow- 
ledge his  illegitimate  offspring,  and  to  ennoble  them, 
been  his  own  master,  he  would  scarcely  have  dared  to 
have  indulged  his  pride  in  early  parentage,  so  far  as  to 
legitimatise  a  child  of  such  humble  origin.  Nor  do  we 
know  what  Queen  Jeanne  thought  or  said  about  the 
matter.  She  had,  it  is  true,  become  by  that  time  a  rigid 
Calvinist,  but  she  had  been  brought  up  in  the  giddy 
Court  of  her  uncle,  Francois  I.  Therefore,  although  we 
fortunately  possess  no  proof  of  the  damaging  assertion, 
made  by  Henri  III.  to  the  King  of  Navarre,  that  his 
mother's  good  name  had  not  always  been  above  sus- 
picion, we  may  deem  it  probable  that  she  was  not  too 
severe  with  her  son  for  this  first  youthful  fredaine,  to 
be  followed  shortly  by  many  more. 

The  strongly  fortified  seaport  of  La  Rochelle  was, 
in  those  early  days  of  the  French  religious  wars,  the 
main  stronghold  of  the  Huguenots.  Henri  d'Albret, 
King  of  Navarre,  the  father  of  Queen  Jeanne,  had,  in 
the  year  1528,  been  appointed  *' Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant of  the  King  in  Guyenne,  and  the  Government  of 
La  Rochelle."  This  Royal  appointment  would  seem  to 
have  descended  to  the  Prince  of  Beam,  after  the  death  of 
his  father  Antoine  de  Bourbon  at  Rouen  in    1562  ;    a 


26  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

peace  having  then  taken  place,  called  the  Peace  of 
Amboise,  by  which  Catherine  de  Medicis,  Regent  for 
her  son  Charles  IX.,  had  done  all  in  her  power  to 
propitiate  the  Huguenot  leaders.  In  order  to  captivate 
the  gallant  Louis,  Prince  de  Conde,  the  uncle  of  the 
Prince  of  Beam,  the  Queen-Mother  gave  in  his  honour, 
and  to  celebrate  the  peace,  one  of  those  famous  fetes  in 
which  she  made  use  of  the  meretricious  charms  of  her 
swarm  of  maids  of  honour.  At  this  festival  the  Prince, 
and  the  rest  of  the  nobles  whom  it  was  sought  to  seduce, 
found  themselves  waited  upon  by  the  fair  damsels  of  the 
Flying  Squadron  attired  in  scanty  raiment  of  diaphanous 
gauze,  their  hair  falling  loosely  over  their  shoulders. 

Louis  de  Conde  was  then  so  attracted  by  the  scarcely 
veiled  charms  of  Isabelle  de  Limeuil  that  he  fell  into  the 
snare  while  he  was  detained  in  a  kind  of  semi-captivity  at 
the  Court.  Unfortunately  Isabelle  madly  fell  in  love  with 
Condd  in  turn ;  she  therefore  failed  to  win  the  Prince  over 
to  the  Royal  and  Catholic  cause,  as  Mademoiselle  du 
Rouet  had  won  his  brother  Antoine,  and  a  short  time 
later  he  was  to  be  found,  in  company  with  the  Admiral 
Gaspard  de  Coligny  and  other  great  nobles,  both  Pro- 
testant and  Catholic,  again  in  arms  against  the  Crown. 
In  the  meantime  Catherine  de  Medicis  had  proceeded 
to  Bayonne,  on  the  borders  of  Navarre,  in  order  to  escort 
her  daughter  Elizabeth  to  the  frontiers  of  Spain,  in  which 
country  she  was  to  become  the  third  wife  of  Philip  II., 
after  having  been  previously  promised  to  that  monarch's 
son,  Don  Carlos.^ 

During   that   visit   Jeanne    de    Albret   and    her  two 

'  Philip  discovered  later  an  intrigue  between  Elizabeth  (called  in  Spain 
Isabella)  and  his  son,  to  whom  she  had  been  affianced.  When  he  became 
assured  that  the  couple  loved  one  another  not  wisely  but  too  well,  he 
caused  his  wife  to  be  poisoned  and  bis  son  killed  in  prison. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  27 

children  had  joined  the  French  Court  at  Bayonnc,  when 
Catherine  did  her  best  to  win  them  over  to  the  Royalist 
side,  and,  doubtless  with  this  intention,  caused  all  of 
his  father's  and  grandfather's  honours  in  Guyenne  and 
Rochelle  to  be  confirmed  to  the  young  Prince  of  Navarre. 
The  result  of  this  appointment  was  that  after  Cond6  had 
been  defeated  at  Jarnac  in  March  1569,  and  treacherously 
murdered  by  order  of  the  Due  d'Anjou,  afterwards 
Henri  III.,  when  he  had  surrendered,  young  Henri 
de  Navarre  was  taken  by  his  mother  to  La  Rochelle, 
and  there  they  fixed  their  abode. 

The  energetic  and  determined  Jeanne  d'Albret  made  up 
her  mind  at  once  that,  if  her  son  was  not  too  young  to 
indulge  in  amorous  encounters,  neither  was  he  too  young 
to  embark  upon  warlike  exploits.  With  her  own  hand 
she  fastened  on  his  armour,  invested  him  with  his  sword, 
lance,  and  dagger.  Then  she  presented  him  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Rochelle  and  to  the  troops  as  one  who 
was  to  fight  for  the  Huguenot  cause.  Before  attaining 
the  age  of  sixteen,  with  his  young  cousin  Henri  de 
Cond6,  "  le  B^arnais "  was  placed  under  the  military 
direction  of  the  Admiral  de  Coligny,  and  for  two  years 
he  was  almost  continuously  involved  in  battles,  skirmishes, 
and  sieges,  during  which  time  he  was  officially  recognised 
as  being  the  head  of  those  of"  the  Religion." 

After  having  been  present  at  the  battle  of  Mon- 
contour,  which  was  a  terrible  defeat,  in  which,  however, 
neither  he  nor  the  young  Conde  was  personally  engaged, 
Henri  had  his  first  chance  of  distinguishing  himself  at 
Arnay-le-Duc.  Here,  after  Coligny  had  been  wounded, 
the  two  cousins  took  over  the  command,  and  with  a  small 
force  violently  overthrew  the  Royalists,  both  displaying 
not  only  gallantry  but  great  military  skill. 


28  The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

Catherine  now  persuaded  her  violent  young  son 
Charles  IX.  to  grant  a  new  peace  to  the  heretics.  It 
was  signed  at  Saint-Germain  in  1570,  and  most  favour- 
able to  the  Protestants.  After  this  campaign  the  leaders 
of  '*  the  cause "  returned  to  La  Rochelle,  and  to  the 
delights  of  love.  The  Admiral  de  Coligny  took,  as 
his  second  wife,  the  very  rich  and  romantic  Comtesse 
d'Entremont,  and  at  the  same  time  married  his  daughter, 
Louise  de  Chatillon,  later  Princess  of  Orange,  to  Charles 
de  Teligny.  Among  the  balls  and  fetes  which  celebrated 
the  conclusion  of  the  peace  at  La  Rochelle,  Henri  de 
Navarre,  now  a  young  and  successful  hero,  was  not  long 
in  discerning  a  very  handsome  face.  It  was  that  of  a 
young  married  lady,  wife  of  Pierre  de  Martines,  an  aged 
professor  of  Greek  and  Hebrew. 

Suzanne  des  Moulins,  the  spouse  of  the  instructor  in 
an  University  for  Protestants  largely  endowed  by  the 
Bearnais,  Coligny,  and  Prince  Henri  de  Conde,  was  a 
compatriot  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  who  was  not  quite 
eighteen  when  he  first  met  her.  She  was  born  at 
Arguedas,  in  Navarre,  but,  beyond  the  fact  of  her  being 
many  years  the  Professor's  junior  at  the  time  when  she 
was  first  distinguished  by  what  the  contemporary  writers 
call  the  Prince's  "kindness,"  the  young  lady's  age  is 
unknown. 

The  warlike  renown,  the  rank,  and  the  good  nature 
of  one  who  was  to  become  the  King,  soon  won  the  heart 
and  overcame  the  scruples  of  the  fair  Suzanne,  and  again, 
although  Henri  seems  to  have  thrown  no  cloak  over  the 
liaison  which  soon  took  place  between  them,  his  strong- 
minded  mother  does  not  appear  to  have  intervened  to 
cause  her  son  to  behave  with  greater  propriety. 

The  ministers  of  the  Reformed  religion  at  La  Rochelle 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  ^9 

did  not  view  the  matter  with  equal  complacency — they 
did  not  scruple  to  call  the  Prince  to  book  from  the  pulpit 
on  account  of  his  misconduct.  Bassompierre  says  in 
his  Mimoires  :  "  Being  in  the  springtime  of  his  youth 
at  La  Rochelle,  Henri  IV.  seduced  a  bourgeoise  named 
the  lady  Martines,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  who  died. 
The  ministers  and  the  consistory  addressed  public 
remonstrances  to  him  in  the  Protestant  meeting-house." 

In  spite  of  this  public  reprobation  to  which  the 
B^arnais  and  his  lightly  conducted  paramour  were  thus 
exposed,  that  the  worthy  Professor  seems  to  have  thought 
very  little  of  the  matter  is  evident  from  a  further  passage 
in  the  same  MJmoires  :  "  He  did  not  even  complain 
of  the  Prince's  attentions,  thinking  that  Madame 
Martinia  and  Henri  did  not  go  beyond  the  bounds  of 
simple  gallantry,  and  did  not  push  the  matter  further 
than  play." 

Since  we  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  a  man  learned 
in  so  many  matters  as  Pierre  Martines  de  Morantin 
was  incapable  of  perceiving  that  which  was  more  notorious 
even  than  le  secret  de  FolichinelUy  it  is  more  than  probable 
that,  like  many  another  husband  whose  wife  has  been 
honoured  by  the  '*  kindnesses "  of  Royalty,  he  found 
it  more  to  his  interest  to  pretend  that  he  could  not 
see  that  which  the  clergy  declared  to  be  an  open  scandal. 
He  may  even — and  the  thing  is  not  unusual — have  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  an  honour  the  attentions  to  his 
young  spouse  of  the  Prince  who  had  called  him  from 
Navarre  to  a  lucrative  position  at  Rochelle.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  the  Professor  never  treated  Suzanne  other 
than  kindly,  and  when  he  died,  twenty  years  later  in 
1 59 1,  expressed  himself  in  most  effusive  terms  in  his  will, 
and  left  her  all  his  property. 


30  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

For  five  years  after  the  death  of  her  son  by  Henri  de 
Navarre  the  amiable  Madame  de  Martines  had  no 
children.  She  then  gave  birth  in  rapid  succession  to 
two  sons  and  two  daughters,  but,  like  the  son  of  a  Royal 
father,  these  all  died  in  early  infancy.  During  her 
married  life  after,  save  for  an  occasional  meeting,  Henri 
had. passed  out  of  it,  Susanne  would  not  seem  to  have 
been  inconsolable. 

According  to  La  Confession  de  Sancy,  that  lively 
satire  of,  the  faithful  follower  and  historian  of  Henri  IV., 
Agrippa  d'Aubign^,  this  tender-hearted  lady  found  place 
in  her  affections  for  other  lovers  when  the  Prince  had 
become  as  openly  inconstant  as  he  had  been  openly 
devoted.  Among  these  was  a  man  of  considerable  note 
as  an  author,  the  Seigneur  de  Fay,  the  grandson  of  de 
THopital,  the  celebrated  Chancellor  of  Catherine  de 
MMicis. 

Henri  had  upon  his  subsequent  visits  to  La  Rochelle 
various  other  tender  love-passages  with  ladies  of  that 
Protestant  city.  Of  his  connection  with  Madame  de 
Sponde,  another  Navarrese  lady  and  ^wife  of  another 
classical  scholar,  who  translated  Homer  and  Hesiod, 
there  is  not  much  worthy  of  remark,  save  that  d'Aubigne, 
who  never  loved  the  mistresses  of  the  master  whom  he 
served  so  well,  hated  both  the  husband  and  wife,  and 
abuses  both  alike. 

Jean  de  Sponde  evidently  was  one  of  those  who 
profited  by  his  wife's  infidelities  ;  he  was  appointed  to 
a  very  high  position  at  La  Rochelle,  which  he  filled  very 
badly,  and  wherein  he  caused  great  municipal  confusion 
by  his  mismanagement. 

A  more  entertaining  love-affair  of  the  rot  vert  galant 
in  this  maritime  resort  was  one  in  which  the  father  of 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3^ 

the  lady  concerned  was  neither  as  blind  as  the  honest 
Professor  de  Martines  nor  as  complaisant  as  Jean  de 
Sponde.  This  parent  showed,  moreover,  that  he  had  a 
very  pretty  wit,  by  the  talent  with  which  he  contrived 
to  make  such  a  reply  to  "  le  Bearnais  "  as  to  render  it 
impossible  for  that  dissolute  Prince  either  to  take  offence 
at  it  or  resent  it. 

Henri,  now  become  King  of  Navarre,  was  in  the 
habit  of  frequently  visiting  a  very  handsome  young  lady, 
the  daughter  of  a  Sheriff,  and  this  pretty  maid  was 
not  insensible  to  the  prayers  of  the  warrior  Prince.  The 
girl's  father  understood  only  too  well  how  matters  were 
between  them,  but  the  honest  gentleman  did  not  well  see 
how  he  could  contrive  to  put  an  end  to  his  daughter's 
liaison  with  a  personage  of  such  exalted  rank. 

One  day,  however,  entering  suddenly  into  his  daughter's 
apartment,  he  found  the  young  lady  sitting  a  little  closer 
to  her  Sovereign  than  mere  politeness  seemed  to  require. 
The  Sheriff  instantly  administered  a  stinging  box  on  the 
ear  to  the  girl,  who  cried  out  with  pain  and  confusion. 
*'  What  are  you  doing  that  for .'' "  angrily  exclaimed 
the  disconcerted  King  of  Navarre. 

"  Sire,  I  strike  my  daughter  because  she  is  showing 
herself  wanting  in  respect  to  your   Majesty." 

Henri  had  to  put  up  with  this  reply  ;  he  found 
nothing  to  say.  After  this  he  ceased  to  frequent  the 
Sheriff's  house,  and  commenced  to  pay  his  attentions  to 
the  young  lady  spoken  of  usually  as  Esther  Imbert. 


CHAPTER    IV 
Henri  de   Navarre  and  Esther 

There  have  been  various  relations  of  the  affair  of  Henri 
with  the  fair  Esther  of  La  Rochelle,  and  most  of  these, 
even  that  given  by  the  talented  historian  Michelet,  are 
somewhat  misleading,  especially  in  regard  to  her  parentage, 
her  birthplace,  and  her  fate.  Upon  one  point  authorities 
disagree,  which  is  the  statement  that  she  was  the  sufferer 
by  the  neglect  of  the  volatile  Prince  ;  but  while  some, 
Michelet  among  the  number,  say  that  he  basely  deserted 
her  after  having  made  of  her  but  the  plaything  of  an 
hour,  and  rendered  her  a  mother,  there  is  evidence  to 
prove  that  such  was  by  no   means   the  case. 

It  is  to  the  researches  of  a  learned  gentleman  of  La 
Rochelle,  named  Jourdan,  and  the  paper  which  he  read 
before  La  Sorbonne  in  Paris  in  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  that  the  correct  details  of  the  history 
of  this  Rochelaise  demoiselle  and  the  way  she  was  treated 
by  the  Bearnais  have  at  length  become  known. 

"  Strange  be  the  ways  of  a  man  with  a  maid  "  was 
written  long  before  the  days  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  and  it 
must  be  confessed  that  to  none  did  the  adage  apply 
more  than  to  this  descendant  from  two  separate  Royal 
lines.  It  is,  however,  always  gratifying  to  the  admirer 
of  this  gallant  Prince  to  find  some  redeeming  trait  in  his 
method  of  behaviour  to  the  fair  creature  by  whom  his 

32 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  33 

passions  are  stirred  for  the  time  being,  to  see  some 
evidences  of  real  affection  and  generosity — not  merely 
those  of  base  and  brutal  neglect  following  immediately 
upon   possession,  as  some  would  have  us  believe. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  those  who  consider  carefully 
his  methods  with  women  will  observe  that  not  only  was 
Henri's  nature  remarkably  inflammable,  but  that  pro- 
pinquity always  begot  in  him  a  continuous  and  constantly 
increasing  violence  of  affection — for  a  time.  In  these  cases 
his  desire  to  gratify  his  lady-love  and  to  secure  her  future 
welfare  was  ever  great — so  great  indeed  that  he  frequently 
wanted  to  marry  his  mistresses,  but  was  fortunately 
prevented  from  so  doing,  either  by  the  remonstrances 
of  d'Aubignd  or  the  fact  of  his  having  a  wife  already, 
from  whom  it  was  not  easy  to  procure  a  divorce.  While 
this  absorbing  interest  continued  Henri  was  always 
generous  to  the  object  of  his  attentions. 

There  were,  of  course,  many  happy-go-lucky  and 
fleeting  amours  in  Henri's  life  :  stray  meetings,  chance 
kisses,  a  night's  hospitality  here  or  there,  of  which  no 
record  ever  remained,  either  on  the  heart  of  the  Prince 
or  on  his  Treasurer's  balance-sheets.  That  among  these 
cannot  be  included  the  affair  with  Esther  de  Boyslambert 
has  now  been  indubitably  proved,  even  if  in  the  end  the 
unhappy  young  lady  was  allowed,  as  it  would  appear, 
to  perish  miserably  in  actual  want  or  by  poison. 

We  left  *'  le  B6arnais  "  at  La  Rochelle,  highly  dis- 
concerted by  the  brusque  methods  of  the  father  of  his 
last  lady-love,  and  mentioned  how  the  excess  of  jealousy 
shown  on  behalf  of  the  Royal  prerogative  and  of  majesty 
by  the  super-loyal  Sheriff  had  determined  His  Majesty 
of  Navarre  to  seek  for  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new. 
The  proof  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  contemporary 

3 


34  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

annals  known  as  the  Recherches  Curieuses,  in  which 
the  chronicler  tells  us  that :  "  The  King  of  Navarre, 
whose  temperament  was  inclined  to  love,  never  discon- 
tinued, in  the  midst  of  his  most  important  affairs,  to  run 
after  ladies,  and  to  have  all  the  adventures  with  them 
that  he  could.  This  Prince,  then,  had  in  this  same  town 
an  intrigue  with  Mademoiselle  de  Boyslambert,  who, 
becoming  enceinte  by  the  King,  gave  birth  to  a  son,  on 
August  yth,  1587,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning." 

This  young  lady,  called  by  some  chroniclers  merely 
Esther,  by  others  Ester  Imbert,  or  Ymbert,  was  the 
daughter  of  Jacques  Ymbert,  Seigneur  de  Boyslambert, 
a  gentleman  whom  Michelet  merely  designates  as  "  an 
honourable  Protestant  Magistrate  of  La  Rochelle." 

He  was,  however,  a  man  of  property,  and  held 
various  other  appointments.  His  wife  was  Catherine 
Rousseau,  and  Esther,  the  eldest  of  their  ten  children, 
was  baptized  in  the  Protestant  church  of  La  Rochelle 
on  January  5th,  1565.  This  was  the  same  year  in 
which  some  wrongly  place  the  birth  of  the  celebrated 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  who  was  to  become  Esther's  suc- 
cessful rival.  As  the  King  of  Navarre  won  this 
young  lady  to  his  will  in  1586,  Esther  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age  when  she  became  his  mistress.  As  for 
her  father  having  been  "an  honourable  magistrate," 
it  would  appear  rather  as  if  he  had  trafficked  in  his 
daughter's  shame  with  the  King  of  Navarre  (as  did 
subsequently  the  father  of  Henriette  d'Entragues, 
Marquise  de  Verneuil).  For  we  find  Jacques  Ymbert 
de  Boyslambert  about  this  time  becoming  Bailly  of  the 
Grand  Fief  of  Aunis,  and,  a  little  later,  receiving  from 
the  Prince  who  had  seduced  his  daughter  the  high  ap- 
pomtment  of  "  Counsellor  and  Master  of  Requests  of  the 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  35 

House  of  Navarre."  These  facts  do  not  seem  to  speak 
very  highly  of  the  father's  honour,  and  the  presumption 
is  that  he  deliberately  sacrificed  that  of  his  innocent 
daughter  to  the  whim  of  a  debauched  young  Monarch, 
then  thirty-three  years  of  age. 

That,  instead  of  at  once  treating  Esther  with  neglect, 
this  young  King  endowed  Esther  with  a  pension  is 
apparent  from  two  documents  still  in  existence,  both 
headed  "  De  Par  le  Roy  De  Navarre,"  signed  "  Henry," 
and  counter-signed  by  "  Duplessis-Mornay,  by  the  very 
express  command  of  His  Majesty." 

These  provide  for  the  payment,  quarterly  in  advance, 
of  the  sum  of  two  thousand  crowns,  solSy  valued  at  six 
thousand  livres,  tournois.  They  are  dated  at  La  Rochelle 
October  13th  and  14th,  1587.  There  is  also  still 
present  in  the  archives  of  the  Basses-Pyr6n6es  the  first 
receipt  signed  by  Esther  for  her  quarter's  allowance, 
while  four  other  receipts,  given  by  her  to  the  Treasurer- 
General  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  remain  as  further  testi- 
mony to  contradict  the  crude  statement  of  d'Aubign6, 
followed  by  others,  that  Henri  allowed  the  infant  son 
of  Esther  Ymbert  to  die  in  poverty,  of  starvation. 

To  give  the  devil  his  due,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  one 
of  the  above  documents,  signed  "  Henry,"  and  counter- 
signed *' Duplessis-Mornay,"  by  the  very  express  command  of 
His  Majesty.  That  noble  Calvinist  gentleman,  Philippe  de 
Mornay,  Seigneur  of  Le  Plessis-Marly,  was  as  celebrated 
for  his  exploits  with  his  sword  as  for  his  statesmanship 
and  readiness  with  his  pen,  and  a  noted  French  writer  has 
said :  "  If  virtue  ever  had  home  upon  earth  it  was  in  the 
heart  of  Mornay." 

One  of  the  two  documents  which  Henri  compelled 
this    honest   counsellor   to   countersign,    as   an    evidence 


36  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

of  his  own  good  faith,  had  in  a  great  measure  to  deal 
with  the  provision  for  this  infant  son  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  who  is  therein  endowed  with  a  regular  house- 
hold of  his  own,  and  spoken  of  as  Monsieur^  the  title 
habitually  used  by  the  eldest  brother  of  the  King  of 
France.  It  may  be  noted  here  that  Henri,  when  he  had 
become  King  of  France,  called  his  eldest  son  by  Gabrielle 
d'Estrees,  who  was  C^sar,  Due  de  Vendome,  by  this 
title  of  "  Monsieur." 

The  paper  in  question  is  headed  as  follows  : 

"  State  of  the  suite  and  expense  that  the  King  of 
Navarre  has  ordered  to  Monsieur  (G6d6on),  his  natural 
son,  and  to  the  Damoiselle  Ester  Imbert." 

Then  follows  a  list  of  an  establishment,  consisting  of 
a  governess  named  Jehanne  Decourt,  a  nurse,  a  fille  de 
chambrCy  two  servants,  la  Chapelle,  the  King's  Varlet  de 
chamhre^  and  an  apothecary  of  His  said  Majesty,  named 
Desbonshommes.  Opposite  the  name  of  each  is  noted 
the  sum  appointed  for  their  payment,  and  an  allowance 
of  two  thousand  crowns  yearly  is  appointed  to  the  said 
Damoiselle  wherewith  to  defray  the  living  expenses  of 
this  suite  provided  for  her  little  son,  Gedeon. 

The  name  of  the  nurse  was  Marguerite  Berthelot, 
and  when  the  child  G^d6on  died,  just  as  he  was  beginning 
to  speak,  at  the  end  of  1588,  an  allowance  was  made  to 
this  nurse,  by  express  command  of  the  King,  of  twenty- 
five  crowns,  '*  in  consideration  of  the  services  which  she 
had  given  to  the  said  late  Sieur  Gedeon  during  his  lifetime. 
This  fact  is  attested  by  the  nurse's  receipt  in  the  accounts 
for  1 589  of  the  Treasurer-General  of  Navarre,  rendered  up 
to  the  time  of  Henri's  accession  to  the  throne  of  France, 
later  on  in  that  same  year.  The  receipt  was  signed  by 
nurse  Berthelot  upon  the  6th  day  of  February.     When 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  37 

Henri  de  Navarre  was  residing  at  La  Rochelle  between 
his  campaigns  he  was  in  the  habit  of  hiring,  at  a  very 
high  price,  a  palace  known  as  the  Hotel  d'Hur6,  and  in 
this,  according  to  M.  Jourdan,  he  lived  openly  with  the 
daughter  of  Jean  de  Boyslambert,  whose  little  son,  with 
his  establishment,  was  installed  under  the  same  roof. 
At  this  same  period  the  King  of  Navarre  and  Prince 
de  Beam,  as  Henri  then  styles  himself  in  a  manifesto, 
was  indulging  in  his  well-known  love  affair  with  the 
Comtesse  de  Gramont,  known  as  La  belle  Corisande.  To 
her  he  wrote  :  *'  Believe  me  that  my  fidelity  is  white  and 
spotless  ;  there  was  never  any  like  it.  If  that  gives  you 
contentment,  live  happy." 

It  seems  almost  impossible  that  Corisande,  or,  to 
give  her  the  name  of  her  maidenhood,  Diane  d'Andouins, 
can  have  believed  these  protestations,  so  often  repeated, 
or  have  been  ignorant  of  her  Royal  lover's  unconcealed 
liaison  with  Esther  Imbert.  Indeed,  it  was  probably 
from  her  knowledge  of  the  worthlessness  of  the  protesta- 
tions of  this  Prince,  for  whom  she  had  displayed  so  much 
devotion,  that  Corisande  commenced  those  letters  ques- 
tioning his  fidelity  which  gave  Henri  so  much  umbrage, 
and  eventually  caused  the  rupture  between  them.  If 
anything  were  needed  to  open  her  eyes,  it  must  certainly 
have  been  supplied  when,  at  the  end  of  1588,  Henri 
wrote  to  Corisande  to  ask  for  her  sympathy  upon  the 
death  of  his  son.  "  I  am  greatly  afflicted  by  the  death 
of  my  little  one,  who  died  yesterday.  He  was  just 
beginning  to  talk."  He  can  surely  have  then  cared  but 
little  for  the  feelings  of  the  Comtesse  de  Gramont,  or  he 
would  scarcely  have  selected  her  as  his  confidante  on  the 
subject  of  the  loss  of  his  child  by  the  rival  whom  she 
must  already  have  looked  upon  with  jealous  eyes. 


38  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

So  strange  has  this  letter  appeared  in  the  eyes  of 
the  historians  that  even  Voltaire,  in  his  Essai  sur  les 
Mceurs,  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  must  have  been  a 
child  of  Corisande  herself  that  died  at  La  Rochelle — to 
which  place,  however,  she  is  known  never  to  have  gone. 
M.  Jourdan  has,  however,  cleared  up  the  matter  since 
the  days  of  Voltaire,  and  there  can,  therefore,  be  now  no 
further  doubt  of  the  fact  that  it  was  the  child  of  Esther 
who  then  died,  aged  fifteen  months  and  twenty-two  days. 
At  that  age  the  little  boy  might  well  be  commencing  to 
babble  his  earliest  words,  which  were  also  to  be  his  last. 

In  April  1589,  after  the  death  of  Catherine  de  Mddicis, 
Duplessis-Mornay,  by  his  wise  counsels,  brought  about 
first  a  truce  and  then  the  famous  reconciliation  between 
the  King  of  Navarre  and  his  brother-in-law,  Henri  III., 
which  took  place  at  Plessis-les-Tours.  It  would  seem 
as  if  both  Esther  and  her  father  quitted  La  Rochelle  at 
this  time,  in  order  to  follow  that  young  lady's  Royal 
lover.  A  note  in  the  accounts  of  the  Receiver-General 
of  Navarre  for  that  year  shows  a  payment  "  to  the 
Damoiselle  Esther  Imbert,  by  the  express  command  of 
the  smd  Lord  King,  of  200  crowns,  for  the  expenses  of 
herself  and  her  suite,  and  for  the  purchase  of  necessaries 
for  the  journey  she  was  then  making." 

This  payment  was  made  in  April ;  Esther,  therefore, 
doubtless  followed  the  King,  in  whose  suite  was  also  at 
that  time  a  young  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Ymbert,  in 
all  probability  one  of  her  brothers.  In  August  of  that 
year  the  assassination  of  Henri  III.  by  Jacques  Clement 
carried  the  King  of  Navarre  to  the  throne  of  France. 
From  the  above,  however,  it  is  evident  that,  up  to  the 
date  of  his  accession,  Henri  still  continued  his  liberalities 
to  the  mother  of  his  son   Gdd^on,     Thus,   up   to   this 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  39 

period,  d'Aubign6  has  proved  unjust  to  Henri  in  the 
Confession  de  Sancy.  After  Henri's  accession,  however, 
what  was  the  fate  of  this  young  lady  with  whom  the 
King  had  lived  on  such  terms  of  tender  intimacy  for  the 
past  three  years  ?  She  was  now  twenty-four  years  of  age, 
and,  although  the  chroniclers  differ  as  to  the  mode  of  her 
death,  all  alike  place  it  three  years  later,  in  1592  ;  but  all 
do  not  attribute  it  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  neglect  of 
her  Royal  lover.  Henri  was  now  continually  fighting  for 
his  life  and  throne  against  the  Guise  faction  and  the 
powerful  organisation  of  the  League. 

In  1592  the  King  had  neither  been  crowned  nor  yet 
been  able  to  effect  an  entrance  into  Paris,  which  he  had 
been  long  besieging,  but  which  remained  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  Leaguers  and  the  Spaniards.  He  had 
established  his  headquarters  at  Saint-Denis  when,  accord- 
ing to  Michelet,  the  unhappy  Esther,  "  who  had  been 
unable  to  get  married  and  who  had,  in  addition,  been 
ruined  by  the  war,  came  to  that  place  a  suppliant — only 
asking  for  bread."  The  historian  adds  that,  for  fear  of 
encountering  the  coldness  of  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es,  Henri 
refused  bread  to  Esther,  and  that  she  died  of  poverty 
and  sorrow  at  Saint-Denis. 

D'Aubign^'s  story  differs  from  the  above — he  makes 
Esther's  father  die  of  hunger  at  Saint-Denis,  whither  he 
had  been  in  vain  to  beg  for  his  daughter's  pension — but 
he  adds  that  Esther  died  of  her  privations  shortly  after 
Jean  de  Boyslambert. 

Two  other  writers  say  that  Esther  died  of  poison 
administered  by  the  King's  new  mistress,  Gabrielle 
d'Estrdes,  when  Esther  was  about  to  follow  Henri  IV. 
into  Burgundy.  They  place  her  death  on  July  14th, 
I J 92.     These  authors  are  Colin  and  Bergier, 


40  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Jaillot,  the  author  of  the  Recherche s  Curieuses^  is 
no  less  explicit  on  the  subject  of  the  poisoning  of 
Esther  by  Gabrielle,  who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
eventually  died  of  poison  herself.  He  says  that  it  was 
while  on  the  journey  to  Burgundy  that  this  unhappy 
young  lady  succumbed  to  the  poison  which  had  been 
administered  by  the  orders  of  Gabrielle,  "  who  was 
commencing  to  share  with  her  the  good  graces  of  his 
Majesty." 

How  can  we  tell  which  is  the  truth  ?  One  point, 
however,  is  patent.  This  is  that  Gabrielle  was  com- 
mencing to  share  the  King's  favours  with  Esther  Imbert. 
This  latter  had  hitherto  remained  in  favour,  and  Henri  IV. 
has  been  unjustly  accused  of  early  ingratitude  and  in- 
humanity to  one  who  merited  nothing  but  love  and 
kindness  at  his  hands. 


CHAPTER   V 
The  Corrupt  Court  of  Catherine 

Marguerite  de  Valois  was  the  youngest  surviving 
daughter  of  Henri  II.  and  Catherine  de  MMicis,  a  Queen 
who,  after  ten  years  of  sterility,  from  1533  to  1543, 
presented  her  husband  with  ten  children  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. During  the  ten  years  preceding  the  birth  of 
Catherine's  son,  who  was  subsequently  Fran9ois  II., 
husband  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  Henri  II.  would 
appear  to  have  lived  exclusively  with  his  elderly  but 
beautiful  mistress,  Diane  de  Poitiers.  This  handsome 
widow,  who  had  already  been  the  favourite  of  Fran9ois  I., 
Henri's  father,  was  the  mother  of  a  daughter  by 
Henri  II.  It  was,  however,  when  she  had  at  length 
recognised  the  necessity  of  there  being  legitimate  heirs 
to  the  throne  of  France  that  Diane  ordered,  as  some 
say,  or  permitted  according  to  others,  Henri  to  live 
maritalement  with  his  wife.  Five  boys  and  five  girls 
were  then  born  of  the  union.  Of  these,  four  sons 
survived,  and  three  of  them,  Fran9ois  II.,  Charles  IX., 
and  Henri  III.,  reigned  in  succession.  Three  girls  lived  : 
Elizabeth,  married  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  Claude,  married 
to  the  reigning  Duke  Charles  III.  of  Lorraine,  and 
Marguerite,  who  in  1572  became  the  wife  of  Henri 
de  Navarre.  This  last-named  was  born  at  Fontainebleau 
on  May    14th,    1553,    seven   months    before    Henri    de 

41 


42  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Navarre,  who  was  born  on  December  14th,  1553.  Thus 
she  was  six  years  old  when  her  father,  Henri  II.,  was 
accidentally  killed  in  a  tournament,  in  June  1559,  by 
Montgomery,  the  captain  of  his  Scottish  Guard. 

From  this  early  date  until  Marguerite,  having  grown 
up,  came  to  live  entirely  under  her  mother's  domination, 
she  does  not  tell  us  much  about  herself  in  her  famous 
Memoires.  In  these  records  of  her  life,  which  are 
addressed  to  Brantome,  who  had  written  her  praises. 
Marguerite  takes  care  only  to  mention  such  circumstances 
as  suit  her,  and  to  give  just  the  colour  which  she  chooses 
to  her  actions.  Although  incomplete,  being  carried  only 
to  the  year  1582,  they  are  exceedingly  interesting,  and 
might,  moreover,  almost  have  been  written  by  a  prude. 
In  spite,  however,  of  her  wilful  concealment  of  facts 
concerning  herself,  the  fair  author  of  the  memoirs  cannot 
help  letting  in  the  light  upon  her  real  feelings  at 
times,  no  matter  how  ambiguously  she  may  talk  as  a 
rule.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  case  with  reference  to 
two  of  the  most  famous  of  her  lovers,  the  Due  Henri  de 
Guise  and  Bussy  d'Amboise,  her  excessive  admiration 
for  whom  cannot  but  become  apparent,  in  spite  of  the 
studied  concealment  of  the  facts  of  her  connection  with 
each  of  them  in  turn. 

There  are,  however,  a  mass  of  other  records  in 
existence,  from  which  all,  or  almost  all,  the  details  of  the 
life  of  the  fair  but  frail  Marguerite  have  become  known, 
and  to  these  her  diary,  commencing  at  the  time  when  she 
"  was  of  the  suite  of  the  Queen,  her  mother,  to  stir  from 
it  no  more,"  forms  a  most  valuable  corollary. 

From  the  Italian  woman,  her  mother,  who  only 
emancipated  herself  from  the  rule  of  Diane  de  Poitiers 
upon  her  husband's  death,  Marguerite  never  learned  any- 


r^' 


r\ 


«        % 


'>^4-i 


MARGUERITE    DE    VALOIS,    AS    A    CHILD 
(Attributed  to  F.  Clouet,  1557) 


43 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  45 

thing  that  was  good.  Of  this  Florentine  Princess 
Chateaubriand  has  said  :  "  Daughter  of  a  family  of 
merchants  raised  to  the  Principality  in  a  Republic,  she 
was  accustomed  to  popular  storms,  to  factions,  to  intrigues, 
to  poisonings,  to  dagger-thrusts.  .  .  .  She  was  unbe- 
lieving and  superstitious,  like  the  Italians  of  her  day. 
She  had  not,  in  her  quality  of  unbeliever,  the  slightest 
dislike  for  the  Protestants  ;  she  simply  had  them  massacred 
from  policy." 

With  Catherine  a  quantity  of  Italians  had  come  to 
the  Court  of  France,  where  their  vices  and  debaucheries 
became  the  fashion,  as  also  their  habits  of  assassination 
and  poisoning.  Above  all,  with  them  came  the  belief 
in  astrology,  occult  and  magic  practices.  The  habit  of 
poisoning  with  perfumes  or  a  pair  of  gloves,  and  the 
study  of  alchemy  also  came  to  France  from  Italy. 

Catherine  was  a  firm  believer  in  astrology  and  sorcery, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  her  perfumer,  the  Florentine  Ren6,  she 
was  credited  by  the  people  of  her  day  with  many  a  secret, 
deadly  crime,  one  of  which  was  the  murder  of  Jeanne 
d'Albret  with  a  pair  of  poisoned  gloves,  in  July  1572. 

With  a  mother  who  looked  upon  assassination  merely 
as  a  method  of  government,  and  at  a  time  when  the 
Royal  family,  and  even  the  powerful  family  of  Guise, 
kept  assassins  at  their  beck  and  call  like  servants, 
Marguerite  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  grow  up  very 
scrupulous  where  human  life  was  concerned.  She, 
however,  took  but  slightly  after  her  mother  in  this 
respect.  The  mother  was  said  to  be  cold  and  disinclined 
to  gallantry,  the  only  liaison  with  which  Catherine  was 
credited  being  one  with  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  brother 
of  Due  Francois  de  Guise.  Very  dissimilar  here  was 
the  nature  of  the  daughter.  Marguerite  having  been  by 


4^  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

far  the  most  warm-blooded  Princess  that  ever  sprung 
from  the  race  of  Valois,  or  indeed  from  any  other  Royal 
race  of  France. 

The  influence  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  was  not  such, 
however,  as  to  check  but  rather  to  promote  the  im- 
morality of  the  women  of  her  Court,  of  many  of  whom 
she  made  use  for  her  own  purposes  of  seduction.  Her 
maids  were  chosen  at  about  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  only 
those  young  ladies  selected  who  already  possessed  a  con- 
siderable share  of  beauty,  with  promise  of  more.  The 
pamphleteers  of  the  day  say  that  these  girls  were 
"  methodically  instructed  in  habits  of  gallantry,"  while 
the  Queen  shut  her  eyes  upon  the  most  shameless  licence. 
Brantome  again  says  of  these  maids  of  honour  that 
*'  they  had  free  choice  to  be  as  much  the  devotees  of 
Venus  as  of  Diana  ;  the  only  thing  that  was  expected  of 
them  was  to  be  clever  enough  to  avoid  getting  themselves 
into  trouble."  The  worthy  Seigneur  de  Bourdeille 
certainly  expresses  this  fact  in  a  little  blunter  language, 
but  that  he  speaks  the  truth  is  proved  by  the  anger 
expressed  by  Catherine  de  Medicis  when  her  daughter's 
maid  of  honour,  Fosseuse,  gave  birth  to  a  child  of  which 
the  King  of  Navarre  was  the  father.  In  a  letter  to  her 
son-in-law  on  this  subject,  the  only  disgraceful  part  of  the 
matter  seems  to  be,  to  Catherine,  the  fact  that  a  child 
should  have  been  born  and  the  fact  have  been  allowed  to 
become  publicly  known.  Be  thou  not  found  out !  was 
the  adage  which  Catherine  believed  in  and  instilled  into 
her  maidens. 

It  was,  then,  in  the  midst  of  a  depraved  Court,  one 
where  the  life  of  a  man  was  of  as  little  value  as  the 
honour  of  a  woman,  that  not  only  Marguerite,  but  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es,  were  brought  up. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  47 

Who  could  blame  these  three  women  if  they  became 
infected  with  the  rottenness  which  surrounded  them 
from  their  early  years  ?  The  rottenness  of  the  Court  of 
Catherine  de  M6dicis  when  her  son  Charles  IX.  was  on 
the  throne  was  such,  indeed,  as  to  horrify  Queen  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  a  Princess  who  most  certainly  had  seen  enough 
about  Courts  in  the  days  of  her  uncle  Francois  I.  not  to 
be  too  easily  shocked. 

"  No  !"  she  exclaims,  in  a  letter  dated  March  8  th, 
1572,  and  addressed  to  her  son,  "great  as  I  conceived 
the  corruption  of  the  Court,  it  exceeds  the  idea  that  I 
had  formed  of  it.  There  the  men  do  not  solicit  the 
women  ;  it  is  the  women  who  solicit  the  men." 

It  would  indeed  appear  as  if  Catherine  de  M^dicis  had 
done  her  utmost  to  imbue  her  sons  with  her  own 
depravation,  to  render  them  heartless  and  unscrupulous. 
In  order  to  close  their  hearts  to  all  feelings  of  pity,  she 
was  even  in  the  habit  of  witnessing  all  executions,  sur- 
rounded by  her  ladies  and  her  children. 

The  memoirs  of  the  Due  de  Bouillon  bear  out  the 
assertion  of  Jeanne  d'Albret  concerning  the  immoral 
depravity  of  the  Court  in  the  time  of  Catherine  de 
M6dicis  and  her  sons.  He  wrote  in  1568,  coldly,  and 
as  if  merely  asserting  a  known  fact :  "  The  women  chose 
those  by  whom  they  would  be  served  ;  the  parents  chose 
the  mistresses  of  their  sons." 

It  was  to  a  Florentine  named  Gondi,  Due  de  Retz, 
that  the  education  of  her  sons  was  confided  by  the  Queen- 
mother,  and  he  was  a  man  of  the  very  worst  reputation. 
In  order  to  endow  this  Italian  with  the  property  of 
Versailles,  she  caused  its  owner,  Lom^nie,  the  King's 
secretary,  to  be  strangled  in  the  State  prison.  Under 
Retz,  Charles  IX.  and  his  brothers,  Henri,  Due  d'Anjou, 


48  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

and  Fran9ois,  Due  d'Alen9on,  had  the  very  worst  kind  of 
training.  These  youths  were  encouraged  to  select  their 
mistresses  from  among  the  voluptuous  attendants  of  the 
Queen.  Of  these,  Marie  Touchet  became  by  Charles  IX. 
the  mother  of  the  Comte  d'Auvergne,  afterwards  Due 
d'Angouleme,  and  a  sharp  thorn  in  the  side  of  Henri  IV., 
who  had  taken  Henriette  d'Entragues,  the  half-sister  of 
Angouleme,  as  one  of  his  last  mistresses.  Henri  d' Anjou, 
later  to  become  Henri  III.,  lived  openly  with  Ren^e  de 
Rieux,  a  woman  of  the  lightest  character  who  went  by 
the  name  of  "  la  belle  Chateauneuf,"  while  half  a  dozen 
other  young  ladies  of  the  Court  fought  among  them- 
selves over  the  possession  of  Frangois,  Due  d'Alen9on,  a 
Prince  who  was  for  long  the  apparently  favoured  suitor 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  although  she  was  double 
his  age. 

Of  these  sons,  Fran9ois  II.,  sickly  from  his  birth, 
the  husband  of  Mary  of  Scotland,  died  in  youth,  to  be 
succeeded  by  his  brother,  Charles  IX.,  who  was  only  a 
mere  boy  of  fourteen  when,  four  years  after  his  accession, 
he  was  declared  of  age.  This  youth  was  not  without 
good  impulses,  but  the  fact  that  he  was  unable  to  escape 
from  his  mother's  domination  warped  his  nature  and 
rendered  him  excessively  violent.  He  indulged  habitually 
in  the  most  terrible  rages,  mixed  up  his  language  with 
vile  oaths,  and  continually  engaged  himself  in  tiring 
manual  exercises,  or  in  wild  hunting  parties,  during  which 
he  blew  his  hunting-horn  with  such  furious  energy  that 
he  caused  his  lungs  irreparable  damage.  These  were  but 
the  ways  in  which  Charles  IX.  endeavoured  to  blow  off 
steam,  to  give  vent  to  the  rage  caused  by  the  difficulties 
of  his  reign,  the  attempted  domination  of  the  Guises,  and 
the  religious  disputes  of  the  Catholics  and  the  Huguenots. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  49 

What  angered  Charles  IX.  above  all  were  the  constant 
jealousies,  shown  both  of  himself  and  one  another,  of 
his  brothers  of  Anjou  and  Alen9on. 

It  was  by  adroitly  working  upon  all  the  distracted 
furies  of  this  wildly  discontented  and  suspicious  young 
King  that  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  the  Due  d' Anjou 
eventually  wrung  from  him  the  order  for  the  Massacre 
of  Saint-Bartholomew  in  August  1572 — an  order  the 
recollection  of  which  caused  him  agonies  of  remorse  when 
he  died,  aged  twenty-four. 

Far  worse  than  Charles  IX.  was  his  brother  Henri, 
the  Prince  favoured  by  his  mother,  who  sought  to  make 
use  of  him  in  her  constant  projects  against  his  elder 
brother.  After  his  accession  to  the  throne  he  habitually 
dressed  himself  more  like  a  woman  than  a  man,  wore 
earrings  and  necklaces,  and  indulged  in  shameless 
debauches  with  young  companions  as  vile  as  himself,  who 
went  popularly  by  the  name  of  the  King's  mignonsy  or 
darlings.  Henri  d'Anjou  was  a  man  absolutely  without 
conscience,  who  delighted  in  doing  evil ;  and  Charles  IX., 
so  long  as  he  lived,  never  sought  to  conceal  the  disgust 
and  disdain  caused  him  by  his  brother  Henri,  of  whom 
he  said  that  he  "  did  well  to  hide  his  vices,  as  he  had  no 
virtues  to  set  off  against  them." 

Fran9ois,  Due  d'Alen^on,  the  youngest  of  the  brothers, 
died  before  Henri  III.,  and  thus,  fortunately  for  France, 
never  succeeded  to  the  throne  left  by  that  childless 
monarch  to  Henri  de  Navarre.  Of  this  scheming  and 
ambitious  Prince  there  is  little  to  be  said  but  that  he 
was  a  mass  of  duplicity  and  indecision. 

Constantly  plotting  against  the  effeminate  Henri  III,, 
d'Alen9on  was  for  a  long  time  in  arms,  at  the  head  of 
the  party  called   the    Politiques,  or   moderate    Catholics 


so  The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

allied  to  his  Bourbon  cousin,  Henri  de  Navarre  and  the 
Huguenots.  No  sooner,  however,  had  he  won  certain 
advantages,  in  the  shape  of  an  appanage  and  money  for 
himself,  than  he  deserted  the  Protestant  cause  and  gladly 
took  command  for  his  brother  Henri  III.  against  his 
former  partisans. 

Later  on  we  again  find  d'Alen9on  reconciled  to  the 
King  of  Navarre,  the  link  between  the  pair  being,  as  it 
had  been  in  the  first  instance,  Marguerite,  the  sister  of 
one  and  wife  of  the  other.  The  affection  of  Fran9ois 
for  this  sister,  which  was  returned  by  her  with  equal 
force,  was  the  most  sincere  and  durable  affection  of 
which  this  unreliable  Prince  ever  showed  himself  capable. 
Unfortunately  its  nature  was  such  as  should  not  have 
existed  between  brother  and  sister.  Although  Marguerite 
has  been  accused  by  her  enemies  of  having  been  on  terms 
of  impropriety  also  with  both  Charles  IX.  and  Henri  III., 
there  is  absolutely  no  proof  where  the  former  of  these 
was  concerned,  and  the  story  may  be  set  down  as  a 
malicious  lie,  if  for  no  other  reason  because,  with  all  his 
faults,  Charles  had  something  too  manly  and  honest  in 
his  nature  for  such  a  thing  to  have  been  possible. 

As  for  the  Due  dAnjou,  his  nature  was  so  utterly 
despicable  that  anything  could  have  been  believed  of 
him.  The  furious  persecution  to  which  he  subsequently 
subjected  Marguerite,  and  the  vile,  if  true,  accusations 
which  he  openly  made  against  her,  would  seem  to  give 
colour  to  the  report  that  he  hated  his  sister  with  the 
hatred  of  a  jealous  lover  furious  at  finding  himself 
constantly  deceived. 

We  may  mention  that  neither  the  Due  d'Anjou  nor 
the  Due  d'Alen^on  bore  in  earlier  life  the  name  by  which 
he   was   subsequently    known,    the    former   having  been 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  $t 

baptized  as  Alexandre  and  the  latter  as  Hercule.  Having 
been  told  by  the  astrologer  Nostradamus  that  she  would 
live  to  see  all  her  sons  Kings  in  succession,  and  that 
there  would  be  no  heir  to  the  Valois,  Catherine  imagined 
that  she  could  cheat  the  action  of  the  planets  in  their 
courses  by  changing  the  names  of  the  two  younger 
Princes  at  their  confirmation.  The  prophecy  proved, 
however,  correct,  with  the  exception  that,  instead  of  a 
King,  d'Alen9on  became,  by  the  election  of  the  people, 
the  absolute  ruler  of  the  Low  Countries.  Francois  was 
greatly  indebted  to  the  wiles  and  meretricious  smiles  of 
his  sister,  which  brought  the  Governors  of  cities  and 
provinces  to  her  feet,  in  attaining  his  ends  in  this  matter 
of  his  ambition. 

According  to  the  Divorce  Satyrique,  a  pamphlet  in 
which  the  author  makes  Henri  IV.  in  his  own  name 
attempt  to  avenge  his  conjugal  misfortunes  by  revealing 
his  wife's  infidelities,  Marguerite  was  from  a  very 
tender  age  one  of  the  most  corrupt  damsels  in  a 
thoroughly  corrupt  Court.  By  all  historical  writers  since 
the  days  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  the  greater  part  of  the 
statements  in  this  pamphlet  have  been  considered  to 
have  been  founded  on  absolute  fact.  The  Divorce 
Satyrique  credits  the  precocious  Princess  with  two  lovers, 
named  respectively  Charrins  and  d'Entragues,  before  she 
had  completed  her  twelfth  year.  The  latter  of  these 
taking  a  wife,  and  Charrins  having  been  given  his  congS^ 
they  were  succeeded  in  the  young  lady's  graces  by  the 
Prince  de  Martigues,  whose  intrigue  with  the  juvenile 
Princess  was  not  only  an  open  secret  at  the  Court  but 
the  jest  of  the  army,  in  which  the  Prince  held  the  rank 
of  Colonel,  owing  to  the  fact  of  his  openly  wearing  an 
embroidered  scarf  which  Marguerite  had  given  to  him. 

4 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  Marriage  and  what  Followed 

August  1572 

In  1572  Charles  IX.  and  his  mother,  Catherine  de 
Mddicis,  determined  upon  arranging  a  marriage  between 
the  sister  whom  the  King  called  sa  grosse  Margot  and 
"  le  Bdarnais."  It  is  probable  that  Charles,  who  was  at 
that  time  on  intimate,  indeed  affectionate,  terms  with 
the  Admiral  de  Coligny,  of  whose  military  skill  he 
sought  to  make  use  in  Flanders,  had  no  evil  designs 
in  bringing  about  this  match,  one,  however,  much 
dreaded  and  resisted  by  Jeanne  d'Albret. 

Catherine,  on  the  other  hand,  jealous  of  the  Admiral's 
growing  influence  over  the  King,  and  in  all  probability 
in  league  from  the  beginning  with  the  young  Due  Henri 
of  Guise,  who  had  sworn  Coligny's  death,  deliberately 
sought  to  make  of  her  daughter  the  bait  for  the  trap 
in  which  she  would  catch  all  of  the  leading  Huguenots 
at  one  fell  swoop.  This  would  be  an  easy  matter  should 
those  of  "  the  religion "  follow  Henri  de  Navarre  and 
his  cousin,  the  Prince  de  Cond6,  to  Paris  for  the 
wedding. 

Jeanne  d'Albret,  having  come  to  Paris  to  bargain 
over  the  terms  of  the  proposed  marriage,  wrote  to  her 
son,  Henri  de  Navarre,   concerning  Marguerite.       Full 

52 


The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre  53 

of  alarms  for  the  future,  with  a  prophetic  instinct  Jeanne 
begged  her  son,  once  he  should  be  married,  to  hurry  off 
at  once  with  his  bride  to  his  ancestral  home  in  B6arn; 
at  all  events,  not  to  delay  in  the  pestilential  air  of  the 
Parisian  Court.  She  said  of  Marguerite,  "  She  is 
beautiful  and  well-informed,  and  of  goodly  learning, 
but  has  been  nourished  in  the  most  accursed  and 
corrupted  society  that  ever  existed.  For  I  do  not  see 
one  that  is  not  tainted  by  it.  I  would  not,  for  anything 
in  the  world,  have  you  come  here  to  remain  in  it.  .  .  . 
Great  as  I  believed  the  corruption  to  be,  I  find  it  still 
worse." 

Tainted  by  it  indeed  was  Marguerite,  and  at  this 
very  time  deeply  in  love  with  the  Due  Henri  de  Guise, 
who  had  at  an  early  date  supplanted  all  the  other  lovers 
of  her  youth  in  her  good  graces. 

The  Guises,  of  the  Ducal  family  of  Lorraine,  then 
an  independent  country,  were  Princes  closely  connected 
with  the  Royal  family  of  France,  to  the  throne  of  which 
country  they  further  aspired,  on  the  grounds  of  the 
direct  descent  which  they  claimed  from  the  Emperor 
Charlemagne.  Henri  de  Guise  was  young,  bold,  hand- 
some, and  warlike,  and  the  first  cousin  of  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots.  Of  all  the  early  lovers  of  Marguerite  de 
Valois,  he  is  the  one  of  whose  close  relations  with  her 
no  doubt  has  ever  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  chroniclers 
and  historians.  While  she  loved  him  passionately,  he 
returned  her  love  with  an  ardent  and  fiery  passion, 
which  was  not,  moreover,  devoid  of  ambition,  since,  as 
she  grew  up,  he  sought  to  make  of  her  at  the  same  time 
his  bride  and  the  stepping-stone  to  the  throne  of  the 
Valois. 

It  was  with  the  view  of  checking  the  plainly  evident 


54  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

aspirations  of  this  Prince,  in  whose  constant  plottings 
and  ambitions  a  permanent  danger  was  visible,  that 
Charles  IX.  and  his  mother  had  determined  to  marry 
Marguerite  to  Henri,  a  Bourbon,  and  as  such  the 
natural  enemy  of  that  Guise  faction  which  was  so  greatly 
to  be  dreaded  by  the  State.  l^. 

Although  Catherine  was  frequently  to  be  mund 
plotting  with  the  members  of  the  family  of  Guise,  often 
against  her  own  sons,  in  order  to  secure  her  own  para- 
mount authority,  she  was  just  as  often  at  the  same  time 
contriving  subtle  schemes  by  which  their  enemies  might 
thwart  their  desires  ;  and  in  this  manner  she  contrived 
to  preserve  the  balance  of  power,  and  to  prevent  the 
Lorraine  family  from  becoming  omnipotent. 

This  they  had  nearly  become,  however,  during  the 
short  reign  of  Francois  II.  Then,  as  the  uncles  of  the 
Scottish  Mary,  Fran9ois,  Due  de  Guise,  who  was  father 
of  the  Due  Henri,  and  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  Henri's 
uncle,  had  dictated  to  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  carried 
matters  at  Court  with  a  very  high  hand  indeed. 

Since  the  death  of  that  ardent  Catholic,  Fran9ois  de 
Guise,  assassinated,  as  many  averred,  at  the  instigation 
of,  the  Huguenot  leader,  the  Admiral  de  Coligny,  the 
hatred  of  his  son,  the  young  Due  Henri,  against  all 
of  the  Protestant  faction  had  become  more  than  ever 
intense.  To  marry  a  daughter  of  France — and  one, 
moreover,  whom  Guise  dearly  loved — to  the  Protestant 
Prince  de  B6arn  was  to  prevent  any  possibility  of  the 
feud  being  healed,  or  of  any  possible  combination  of 
the  Bourbons  and  the  Guises  against  the  ruling  family 
of  Valois. 

By  his  intrigues,  and  by  working  through  his  uncle, 
the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  Henri  de  Guise  had  recently 


GASPARD    DE    COLIGNY,    SEIGNEUR    DE    CHATILLOX 
Amiral  de  France 


55 


The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre  57 

contrived  to  upset  a  plan  which  had  been  formed  for 
giving  Marguerite  in  marriage  to  the  young  King  of 
Portugal.  Both  Charles  IX.  and  his  brother,  the  Due 
d'Anjou,  were  determined,  however,  that  Guise  should 
not  profit  by  the  breaking  off  of  this  match  to  obtain 
their  sister's  hand  for  himself.  The  King  and  his  brother 
not  only  threatened  to  kill  Guise  with  their  own  hand 
unless  he  renounced  his  intentions,  but  the  former 
furiously  ordered  the  Due  to  leave  the  Court,  and,  if 
he  valued  his  life,  not  to  reappear  unless  he  brought 
a  wife  with  him. 

Marguerite,  who  was  constantly  subjected  to  the 
taunts  of  her  brother  of  Anjou,  also  begged  her  lover 
to  get  married,  if  only  for  her  sake  and  to  save  her 
from  persecution. 

Guise  wisely  listened  to  Marguerite's  supplications  ; 
he  instantly  married  his  mistress,  Catherine  de  Cloves, 
Princesse  de  Porcien,  the  widow  of  one  of  the  great 
nobles  of  the  Burgundian  family  of  Croy.  Then  he 
returned  to  the  Court,  and  resumed  his  old  relations 
with  the  Princess  Marguerite,  and  their  intimacy  was 
then  so  public  that  many  people  believed  that  Guise  had 
contracted  a  secret  marriage  with  the  Royal  Princess  be- 
fore pretending  to  contract  an  union  with  another  spouse. 
Dupleix,  in  his  Histoire  de  Louis  XIII.^  says  that  "  at 
the  time  of  her  marriage  to  Henri  de  Navarre  Marguerite 
had  from  her  early  youth  already  so  deeply  fixed  her 
affections  upon  Henri,  Due  de  Guise,  that  she  never 
loved  the  King  of  Navarre,  whom  she  had  been  made 
to  hate  in  advance  and  at  last  to  marry,  in  spite  of 
herself,  and  against  the  canonical  laws  (concerning  degrees 
of  relationship).  She  said  that  she  had  been  sacrificed 
for  the  sake  of  the  public  peace." 


58  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Vanel,  in  his  Galanteries  des  Rots  de  France^  goes 
even  deeper  than  Dupleix  into  the  romantic  details  of 
the  amours  of  the  Due  de  Guise  and  Marguerite  ;  the 
circumstances  of  their  meetings  and  their  partings,  the 
letters  that  they  wrote  to  one  another,  are  all  set  forth 
by  him  without  neglecting  one  interesting  point.  So 
great  indeed  is  the  wealth  of  detail  that  it  is  impossible 
not  to  imagine  a  little  unnecessary  embroidery  in  the 
pattern  of  the  picture.  Vanel,  however,  was  probably 
speaking  the  unvarnished  truth  when  he  said  :  *'  Of  all 
the  lovers  that  the  Queen  Marguerite  had,  the  Due  was 
the  one  that  she  loved  most  tenderly.  The  attachments 
that  she  formed  elsewhere  by  no  means  extinguished  the 
passion  which  she  had  for  him.  She  kept  her  heart  for 
him  while  he  lived.  .  .  ." 

What  one  cannot,  however,  accept  as  gospel  truth, 
is  the  manner  in  which  Vanel  continues  the  above  sen- 
tence :  "  and  when  he  was  assassinated  at  Blois,  they  say 
that  she  went  there  two  days  in  advance,  disguised  as  a 
postillion,  to  warn  him  of  what  was  being  prepared  for 
him  ;  but  this  unfortunate  Prince  paid  no  attention  to 
this  advice,  any  more  than  that  of  several  others  given  to 
him  on  the  eve  of  his  death." 

Considering  that  Marguerite  was,  at  the  time  of  the 
assassination  of  Guise  by  Henri  III.,  maintaining  herself 
in  a  state  of  permanent  armed  defence  at  Usson,  in 
Auvergne,  against  both  her  brother  and  her  husband, 
this  romantic  story  is  evidently  unworthy  of  credence. 
Another  thing  to  militate  against  its  probability  is  that 
during  his  last  days  on  earth  the  magnificent  Guise  was 
living  with  a  woman  whom  Marguerite  hated  and  de- 
tested. This  was  Madame  de  Noirmoutier,  who,  as 
the   famous  Madame  de  Sauve,  had   previously  caused 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  59 

the  Queen  of  Navarre  enough  trouble  and  cause  for 
jealousy,  with  both  her  husband  and  her  brother 
d'Alen9on,  to  make  it  very  unlikely  that  she  would  go 
near  Guise  when  he  too  had  succumbed  to  this  lascivious 
siren.  Above  all,  we  cannot  believe  that  Marguerite, 
much  as  she  had  formerly  loved  Guise,  would  have 
risked  her  still  pretty  head  at  the  Castle  of  Blois. 
There  her  brother,  Henri  III.,  would  have  been  only 
too  ready  to  have  his  detested  sister  decapitated  as  a 
wanton  and  shameless  woman,  or  certainly  as  a  rebel, 
who  had  joined  The  Holy  League  against  his  authority, 
that  League  of  which  Henri  de  Guise  was  the  origin- 
ator, and  on  account  of  the  power  to  which  he  had 
raised  it  was  about  to   be  assassinated. 

Henri  de  Guise,  the  future  chief  of  the  League,  had 
been  compelled  to  sacrifice  his  views  and  wishes  in  an 
undesired  marriage,  two  years  before  Marguerite  de 
Valois  was  called  upon  to  do  the  same  thing.  This 
future  idol  of  Paris,  and  King  of  the  Barricades,  found 
it  necessary  to  bow  his  proud  head  to  some  very  dis- 
graceful actions  in  order  to  maintain  it  in  security  in 
the  Court,  to  which  he  had  returned  after  his  marriage, 
solely  to  be  near  the  beautiful  Princess  Marguerite. 

No  person  there  hated  Guise  more  than  the  treacher- 
ous, deceitful  Due  d'Anjou,  who,  however,  made  a 
practice  of  treating  the  lover  of  the  Princess  to  a  system 
of  cat-like  caresses,  which  deceived  neither  Guise  nor 
Marguerite,  a  fact  which  readers  of  the  latter's  memoirs 
will  see  that  she  does  not  forget  to  place  on  record. 

In  order  to  placate  the  dangerous  Anjou,  the  splendid 
Due  Henri  was  compelled  to  resort  to  the  despicable 
role  of  go-between.  By  his  good  offices  Guise  procured 
for   the   violently  enamoured  Due  d'Anjou  the  hitherto 


6o  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

refused  favours  of  his  pretty  young  sister-in-law,  Marie 
de  Cleves,  Princesse  de  Conde.  This  young  lady  was 
fated  to  die  very  young,  when  the  gallant  Prince  Henri 
de  Conde  was  equally  unfortunate,  indeed,  more  so,  in 
his  second  wife.  This  was  Charlotte  de  la  Tremouille, 
who  was  not  only  unfaithful  to  her  husband  but  poisoned 
him  in  1588,  with  the  aid  of  her  lover,  a  Gascon  page, 
by  whom  she  became  the  mother  of  a  son,  only  even- 
tually recognised  as  legitimate,  owing  to  the  good  nature 
of  Henri  IV.,  who  also  took  the  mother  from  the  prison 
in  which   she  had  been  lying  under  sentence  of  death. 

Owing  to  his  good  offices  with  the  Due  d'Anjou, 
Henri  de  Guise  had  found  it  possible  to  remain  in 
security  at  the  Court  for  the  space  of  two  years  which 
separated  his  own  marriage  from  that  of  Marguerite  to 
Henri  de  Bourbon. 

This  took  place  on  August  17th,  1572,  and  the 
Bearnais,  by  the  recent  death  of  his  mother,  said  to  have 
been  poisoned  by  Catherine  de  Medicis,  had  become  King 
of  Navarre  about  two  months  before  the  celebration  of  his 
nuptials  with  Marguerite  de  Valois.  He  came  to  Paris 
for  the  wedding,  followed  by  a  magnificent  train  of  eight 
hundred  Huguenot  nobles  attired  in  mourning,  a  dress 
which  was  changed,  however,  for  the  most  splendid  attire 
on  the  day  of  the  wedding. 

The  story  is  always  told  of  Marguerite,  such  was  her 
unwillingness  to  marry  Henri,  that  she  refused  to  answer 
the  fateful  "  Yes  "  during  the  ceremony,  whereupon  the 
fiery  young  Charles  IX.  furiously  pushed  down  his 
sister's  head.  This  action  was  taken  as  a  consent  by 
Henri's  uncle,  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  who  was  per- 
forming the  nuptial  service. 

In  her  own  agreeably  written  memoirs,  Marguerite 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  6i 

makes  no  mention  of  any  such  unwillingness  on  her 
part.  On  the  contrary,  this  Princess  of  supple  character, 
one  who  so  frequently  showed  that  she  knew  how  to 
yield  at  the  proper  moment,  dwells  with  considerable  self- 
complacency  upon  the  pomp  and  magnificence  of  her 
nuptials  :  "  more  than  those  of  any  one  else  of  my 
degree." 

Nor,  when  Henri  was  previously  proposed  to  her  by 
her  mother,  does  she,  according  to  her  own  record  of 
what  then  took  place,  mention  any  disinclination  to 
become  the  Queen  of  Navarre  ;  all  that  she  does  is 
to  mention  mildly,  when  this  Protestant  Prince  is  pro- 
posed to  her,  that  she  herself  is  a  good  Catholic  : 

"  Afterwards  the  Queen  called  me  to  her  private 
apartments,  and  told  me  that  Messieurs  de  Montmorency 
had  proposed  this  marriage  to  her,  and  that  she  desired 
to  know  my  wishes  ;  to  which  I  replied  that  I  had  neither 
will  nor  choice  except  her  own,  only  I  begged  her  to 
remember  that  I  was  very  Catholic," 

After  the  description  of  her  wedding.  Marguerite 
follows  with  a  remark  which  would  not  lead  us  to 
believe  that  she  had  any  regret  for  her  marriage  at  the 
time  of  its  consummation  :  "  But  fortune,  which  never 
leaves  complete  happiness  to  human  beings,  soon  changed 
this  happy  condition  of  nuptials  and  triumph  to  one 
entirely  the  opposite." 

The  marriage  took  place,  as  we  have  mentioned,  on 
August  17th,  1572,  and  Marguerite  refers  here  to  the 
Massacre  of  Saint-Bartholomew,  five  days  later,  when  the 
Admiral  de  Coligny,  his  son-in-law,  Charles  de  T^ligny, 
and  nearly  all  the  Protestant  nobles  who  had  followed 
the  King  of  Navarre  to  Paris,  were,  with  thousands  of 
others,  butchered  in  cold  blood  by  Charles  IX.,  at  the 


62  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

instigations  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  and  the  Due 
d'Anjou. 

Mongez,  in  his  Histoire  de  Marguerite  de  Valois^  tells 
us  that  this  massacre  had  been  designed  to  take  place 
earlier  than  when  it  did,  on  August  24th,  during  the 
grand  festivities  on  the  19th  and  20th  of  the  month. 
He  shows  that  the  large  body  of  Huguenots  had  been 
simply  drawn  to  Paris  for  the  wedding  in  order  that  they 
might  be  butchered." 

The  first  idea  proposed  was  to  kill  them  during 
a  tourney,  and  a  wooden  fort  was  built  for  that  purpose 
on  an  island  in  the  Seine,  "upon  which  rests  a  portion 
of  the  Pont-Neuf."  This  fort  was  to  be  garrisoned  by 
the  Due  d'Anjou  and  a  picked  band,  who  were  to  be 
attacked  in  sport  by  the  King  of  Navarre,  the  Admiral, 
and  the  Huguenots.  In  the  course  of  the  playful  mel6e, 
these  latter  were  to  be  attacked  in  earnest  by  the  de- 
fenders of  the  fort  and  all  killed,  and  it  was  proposed 
to  throw  the  odium  of  this  infamous  action  upon  a 
supposed  quarrel  between  those  taking  part  in  the  sham 
fight,  which  quarrel  could  not  be  stopped.  "These 
cowardly  and  bloody  actions,"  says  the  historian,  "  were 
much  to  the  taste  of  Charles  IX.,  who  had  got  up  one 
almost  similar  against  the  Due  de  Guise,  who  was  clever 
enough  to  avoid  it  ;  but  the  assassination  of  Ligneroles, 
a  favourite  of  '  Monsieur,'  carried  out  with  great 
precision    according    to    his     orders,    filled     him     with 

joy-" 

This  Ligneroles  had  foolishly  allowed  the  King  to  see 
that  he  knew  what  it  was  proposed  to  do  at  the  attack 
upon  the  fort  upon  the  island  ;  but,  after  his  death,  as 
it  seemed  probable  that  the  suspicions  of  the  Huguenots 
might  have  been   aroused,    the   fort  was   destroyed    by 


^^"-^^■!L^ 


THE    QUEEN    OF    NAVARRE     (1572) 

Marguerite  de  Valois,  Daughter  of  Henri  II.  and  Catherine  de  Medicis 

{Portrait  in  the  Bibliothique  Nationale) 


63 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  65 

the  orders  of  Charles  IX.,  and  nothing  said  about  the 
proposed  sham  fight  on  the  river. 

During  the  fetes  which  took  place  religious  feeling 
was  plainly  shown  against  the  Huguenots.  First,  in  that 
at  the  Hotel  de  Bourbon  the  King,  his  brothers,  and 
followers,  defended  a  Paradise  full  of  nymphs,  and  threw 
down  into  a  hell,  full  of  devils  and  sulphur,  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  some  Knights-errant,  for  asking  admission 
to  the  abode  of  bliss.  Then,  in  a  tourney,  the  King 
and  his  brothers,  with  Guise  and  his  brothers,  were 
confronted  by  Henri  de  Navarre  and  Huguenot  nobles 
who  were  compelled  to  be  dressed  in  the  unpopular 
attire  of  Turks.  All  these  slights  caused  an  uneasy 
feeling  among  the  Huguenots  and  the  Politiques,  or 
moderate  Catholics.  The  Mar^chal  de  Montmorency, 
a  Politique  related  to  the  family  of  Chatillon,  of  which 
Coligny  was  the  head,  thought  he  would  be  safer  out 
of  Paris,  and  wisely  retired  to  his  seat  on  pretext  of 
illness,  A  day  or  two  later  Catherine  de  M6dicis,  her 
favourite  son  Anjou  and  Guise  together  endeavoured 
to  have  Coligny  murdered  by  a  man  named  Maurevert, 
who  was  nick-named  the  "  King's  Killer "  (/<?  tueur 
du  rot),  from  his  previous  murder  of  the  Seigneur  de 
Mouy. 

Maurevert  fired  at  the  Admiral  with  an  arquebus,  but 
only  contrived  to  break  a  finger  of  his  right  hand  and 
to  shoot  him  in  the  left  arm.  Maurevert  then  fled,  and 
Charles  IX.,  hearing  of  this  attack  upon  his  now  beloved 
Coligny,  was  furious.  He  vowed  vengeance  upon  the 
Guises,  whom  he  alone  suspected  of  the  crime,  and  went 
to  see  the  Admiral.  "  God's  Death ! "  he  exclaimed 
furiously  to  his  mother  on  his  return,  *'  what  the  Admiral 
tells  me  is  true.     All  the  handling  of  aflairs  is  in  your 


66  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

hands  and  that  of  Anjou,  but  I'll  take  care  to  see  to 
it  before  my  best  subject  is  killed." 

The  Huguenots  were  naturally  furious  at  this  outrage, 
which  they  attributed  to  the  Due  de  Guise,  whom  they 
sought  to  kill — and  whose  followers  they  caught  and 
ill-treated.  Some  of  the  leaders  openly  said  to  the  King 
that  if  the  outrage  were  not  punished  the  Calvinists 
would  themselves  take  a  bloody  revenge. 

Catherine  and  Anjou,  afraid  of  their  complicity  being 
discovered,  according  to  the  narration  of  the  Due  d  Anjou, 
in  Villeroi's  Memoires  d' Etat,  determined  to  finish  off  the 
Admiral  and  all  the  Huguenots.  For  hours  they  argued 
with  Charles  IX.,  persuading  him  of  the  danger  he  stood 
in,  and  saying  that  the  Admiral  had  sent  to  Germany 
and  Switzerland  for  twenty  thousand  men,  and,  on 
August  23rd,  1572,  suddenly  the  violent  Charles  IX.  made 
up  his  mind.  He  determined  to  do  as  his  mother  and 
brother  wished,  and  to  have  all  the  Huguenots,  including 
the  Admiral,  slaughtered  in  the  night-time,  and  gave  his 
orders  accordingly.  All  the  gates  of  Paris  were  to  be 
closed,  and  all  the  officers  of  the  bourgeois  guard  of  Paris 
warned  to  arm  and  be  ready.  The  nineteen-year-old 
Marguerite  de  Valois,  a  bride  of  only  six  days,  and 
apparently  upon  excellent  terms  with  her  young  husband, 
was  carefully  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  plot,  which  was 
in  all  probability  to  deprive  him,  as  also  his  cousin  of 
Conde,  of  his  life.  We  will  quote  a  portion  of  her 
memoirs  which  throw  an  excellent  light  on  the  events 
of  the  massacre. 


CHAPTER  VII 
The  Night  of  the  Massacre 

August  24M,   1572 

After  first  explaining  how  Catherine  had  boldly  told  her 
son  that  she  had  herself  sought  to  remove  from  the 
Kingdom  "  that  pest,  the  Admiral  de  Coligny,"  and  how, 
in  consequence,  her  life  was  in  as  great  danger  from  the 
Huguenots  as  was  that  of  M.  de  Guise,  Marguerite 
continues  : 

"  King  Charles,  who  was  very  prudent,  and  who  had 
always  been  very  obedient  to  the  Queen  his  mother, 
suddenly  took  the  resolution  to  join  himself  to  her ;  not, 
however,  without  extreme  regret  at  not  being  able  to 
save  Tdigny,  La  Noue,  and  M.  de  la  Rochefoucauld. 
He  sent  for  his  mother,  M.  de  Guise,  and  all  the  other 
Catholic  princes  and  captains,  when  it  was  decided  to 
execute  that  very  night  the  massacre  of  Saint-Bartholomew. 
Setting  to  work  at  once,  all  the  chain  approaches  to  the 
bridges  were  fastened,  and  the  tocsin  sounded,  each  one 
rushing  to  the  quarter  allotted  to  him,  to  the  Admiral  as 
to  all  of  the  Huguenots.  Monsieur  de  Guise  made  for 
the  Admiral's  lodging,  where  a  German  gentleman, 
named  Besme,  ascended  to  his  room,  stabbed  him  to  the 
heart,  and  then  threw  him  out  of  the  window  to  his 
master,   Monsieur  de  Guise. 

67 


68  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

*'  As  for  me,  I  had  been  told  nothing  of  all  this. 
The  Huguenots  held  me  in  suspicion  because  I  was 
Catholic,  and  the  Catholics  because  I  had  married  the 
King  of  Navarre,  who  was  Protestant.  So  nobody  told 
me  anything  till  night,  when,  being  present  at  the  retiring 
of  the  Queen,  my  mother,  sitting  on  a  chest  beside  my 
sister  Claude,  the  Duchess  of  Lorraine,  who  I  noticed 
was  very  sad,  the  Queen  saw  me  and  told  me  to  go  off 
to  bed.  As  I  made  my  bow  my  sister  took  me  by  the 
arm  and,  commencing  to  weep  bitterly,  said  :  *  CMon 
Dieu !  Sister,  do  not  go  ! '  which  frightened  me 
excessively. 

"  The  Queen,  my  mother,  perceiving  this,  called  my 
sister.  She  rated  my  sister  soundly,  and  forbade  her  to 
tell  me  anything.  My  sister  replied  that  it  was  not  right 
to  send  me  off  to  be  sacrificed  like  that,  for  that,  doubt- 
less, if  anything  was  found  out,  I  should  be  the  victim  of 
their  vengeance.  My  mother  replied  that  if  God  willed 
it  so  He  would  protect  me,  but  that  I  must  go,  for  fear,  if 
I  stayed,  that  they  should  suspect  something.  I  could 
see  that  they  were  quarrelling,  but  could  not  understand 
what  they  were  saying.  She  commanded  me  again 
roughly  to  go  to  bed.  My  sister,  melting  into  tears, 
bade  me  good-night  without  daring  to  add  anything,  and 
I  went  off  all  bewildered,  without  being  able  to  imagine 
what  it  was  that  I  had  to  fear.  In  my  cabinet,  I 
prayed  to  God  to  take  me  under  His  protection  and 
deliver  me,  although  I  did  not  know  from  what  or  from 
whom.  Thereupon  the  King,  my  husband,  who  was 
already  in  bed,  sent  and  told  me  to  come  to  bed.  This  I 
did,  and  found  his  bed  surrounded  by  thirty  or  forty 
Huguenots.  All  night  long  they  did  nothing  but  talk 
of  the  accident  which   had  befallen   Monsieur  I'Amiral, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  69 

resolving,  as  soon  as  it  should  be  daylight,  to  ask  justice 
of  the  King  upon  Monsieur  de  Guise,  and  that,  if  this 
was  not  granted  them,  to  take  it  for  themselves." 

We  must  presume  that  the  bed-curtains  separated 
these  angry  Huguenots  from  the  newly-married  couple. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  goes  on  to  describe  how  she 
passed  a  sleepless  night,  full  of  apprehensions  and  alarms, 
and  how  at  daybreak  her  husband  rose,  taking  all  his 
gentlemen  with  him,  saying  that  he  would  go  and  play  at 
tennis  until  it  was  time  to  go  and  wait  upon  King 
Charles,  to  complain  of  the  attempted  assassination  of  the 
Admiral.  Marguerite  then  fell  asleep,  imagining  that  the 
danger  which  the  Duchess  of  Lorraine  had  so  dreaded  had 
passed  by. 

She  was  soon  undeceived  when  a  violent  knocking, 
with  shouts  of  "  Navarre  I  Navarre  1  "  were  heard  at  her 
locked  door,  which  she  instantly  ordered  her  ladies  to 
open,  imagining  it  to  be  her  husband  in  imminent  danger. 
Instantly  there  rushed  in,  pursued  by  four  archers,  a 
gentleman  whom  she  calls  Tejan,  but  who  is  called  the 
Vicomte  de  L^ran  by  other  writers.  He  was  a  gentle- 
man of  the  stable  of  the  King  of  Navarre. 

Bleeding  from  two  wounds  in  his  arm,  this  young 
nobleman  flung  himself  into  the  bed  of  the  Royal  bride, 
when,  in  her  own  words  :  "  I,  feeling  that  these  men 
had  hold  of  me,  flung  myself  out  on  the  bedside,  and 
he  after  me,  holding  me  all  the  time  round  the  body. 
I  did  not  know  this  man,  and  I  did  not  know  if  he 
came  there  to  insult  me,  nor  if  the  archers  were  after 
him  or  me.  We  were  both  crying  out,  and  each  of  us 
frightened  as  the  other. 

"  At  last,  by  God's  will.  Monsieur  de  Nan^ay,  the 
Captain  of  the  Guards,  arrived,  and,  finding  me  in  this 


70  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

plight,  in  spite  of  his  pity  for  me  he  could  not  help 
laughing.  He  scolded  the  archers  severely  for  their  in- 
discretion and  granted  me  the  life  of  the  poor  fellow 
who  was  holding  me  and  whom  I  caused  to  be  put  to 
bed,  and  his  wounds  to  be  attended  to  until  he  was 
completely  cured.  And  changing  my  chemise,  because 
he  had  covered  it  with  blood,  M.  de  Nan9ay  related 
to  me  what  was  taking  place,  and  assured  me  that  the 
King,  my  husband,  was  in  the  King's  chamber  and  would 
run  no  risk." 

The  Captain  of  the  Guards  then  covered  the  newly 
made  Queen  of  Navarre  with  a  dressing  gown,  and 
led  her  off  to  the  chamber  of  her  sister  Claude,  more 
dead  than  alive.  As  she  entered  the  room  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Lorraine,  a  gentleman  named  Bourse,  flying 
from  the  archers,  was  transfixed  by  a  halberd  close  to 
her — so  close  that  she  thought  that  both  she  herself 
and  de  Nan9ay,  into  whose  arms  she  fell,  had  been 
pierced  also  by  the  weapon.  The  troubles  of  this  un- 
fortunate Princess  were  not  over,  for  two  of  her  husband's 
gentlemen.  Monsieur  de  Miossans  and  Armagnac,  his 
first  valet,  rushed  to  her  for  protection  in  her  sister's 
bedchamber.  She  went  and  fell  upon  her  knees  to 
Catherine  de  M^dicis  and  her  brother  Charles  IX.,  and, 
after  some  difficulty,  contrived  to  have  their  lives  granted 
to  her. 

The  organisers  of  the  massacre,  including,  it  would 
seem,  the  bloodthirsty  Queen-M other  and  the  Due 
d'Anjou,  had  meanwhile  determined  upon  the  death 
of  Henri  de  Navarre  and  the  Prince  de  Cond6.  These 
two  Princes  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  had,  however, 
by  the  orders  of  Charles  IX,,  been  conducted  to  the 
King's  chamber,  where  they  found  their  Royal  cousin,  in 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  71 

a   state  of  frenzy,   firing  upon   the  Huguenot   fugitives 
from  the  window  with  his  carbine. 

There  they  had  to  listen  to  violent  reproaches  from 
the  King  and  his  mother,  and  were  only  accorded 
their  lives  by  the  former  upon  their  consenting  to  re- 
nounce the  Protestant  religion  and  declare  themselves 
Catholics. 

Brantome  would  have  his  readers  believe  that 
Marguerite  it  was  who  saved  her  husband's  life,  although 
with  great  difficulty,  after  throwing  herself  upon  her 
knees  before  Charles  IX.  Marguerite  would,  however, 
have  been  certain  to  have  mentioned  this  circumstance 
had  such  been  the  case,  and  the  statement  of  the  Sieur 
de  Bourdeille  has  not  been  generally  accepted  with  refer- 
ence  to  this  supposed  incident. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  actual  facts  on  that 
occasion,  it  is  certain,  according  to  the  account  of 
Marguerite  herself,  that,  a  day  or  two  after  the  com- 
pletion of  the  horrible  massacre,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
"  unmarry  "  the  Queen  of  Navarre  from  the  husband 
with  whom  she  had  been  so  recently  provided  by 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  and  that  she  then  declined  to 
be  released  from  Henri  de  Bourbon. 

She  asserts  that  the  prime  movers  in  the  recent 
butchery,  which  had  cost  the  lives  of  many  thousands  of 
Huguenots  all  over  France,  were  by  no  means  contented 
that  the  Princes  of  the  Blood  had  escaped,  as  they  sought 
their  destruction  before  that  of  all  others.  Feeling  that, 
so  long  as  Marguerite  remained  the  wife  of  the  King 
of  Navarre,  Charles  IX.  would  protect  his  brother-in-law 
and  his  cousin  Cond6,  they  persuaded  Catherine  to  break 
the  marriage,  after  which  these  Princes  might  be  killed 
with  impunity. 

5 


72  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Apparently  nothing  loath,  the  Queen-Mother  called 
Marguerite  to  her,  and  with  subtle  casuistry  put  her 
daughter  through  a  cross-examination  upon  the  delicate 
subject  as  to  whether  or  no  the  marriage  had  been 
consummated,  explaining  to  her  that  should  her  reply  be 
in  the  negative  the  marriage  could  be  broken,  as  being 
null  and  void. 

Marguerite  de  Valois  was  not,  however,  for  nothing 
the  daughter  of  an  Italian  mother,  and  in  consequence 
was  possessed  with  a  considerable  share  of  the  Florentine's 
cunning.  Whether  she  loved  Henri  or  no,  she  was 
certainly  on  excellent  terms  with  him.  She  also  had 
no  objection  to  being  the  Queen  of  one  who,  by  some 
turn  of  Fortune's  wheel,  might  some  day  be  seated  upon 
the  throne  of  France.  The  young  bride,  therefore,  in 
spite  of  her  past  record  of  improprieties,  most  na'lvely 
played  the  inginue.  By  modestly  declaring  that  she  was 
utterly  unable  to  understand  what  the  Queen-Mother 
meant  by  her  questions,  she  eluded  giving  the  reply 
which  it  was  sought  to  obtain  from  her,  and  thus  check- 
mated her  mother's  sinister  designs,  which  were,  as  she 
knew,  being  instigated  from  Rome  by  the  Cardinal  de 
Lorraine.  She  ended  up  by  saying — to  quote  her  own 
words :  "  1  was  not  qualified  to  answer  her  question,  and 
indeed  I  was  then  in  the  same  condition  as  that  Roman 
lady  whose  husband  had  reproached  her  because  she  had 
not  told  him  that  his  breath  was  unpleasant,  and  who 
replied  that  she  fancied  that  all  men  were  alike  in  this 
respect,  never  having  been  approached  by  any  other  man 
than  him.  But  I  said  that,  however  it  might  be,  since 
she  had  put  me  in  this  condition  I  preferred  to  abide  in  it, 
knowing  that  it  was  only  proposed  to  separate  me  from 
him  in  order  to  play  him  an  ill  turn."     In  this  manner 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  73 

Marguerite  certainly  saved  her  husband,  who,  with  the 
Prince  de  Cond^,  remained  a  prisoner  at  the  Court. 
Both  the  Princes  were,  at  all  events  for  some  time,  very 
shabbily  treated,  but  the  abjuration  of  their  faith  satisfied 
Charles  IX.,  who  allowed  no  attempt  to  be  made  upon 
the  lives  of  his  brother-in-law  and  his  cousin. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

Three  Prodigal  Princes 

1572— 1573 

If  it  was  indirectly  owing  to  his  wife's  determination  to 
stick  by  her  young  husband  that  Henri  owed  his  safety, 
another  reason  is  given  as  the  cause  of  the  immunity  of 
the  Prince  de  Conde.  This  is  that  Elizabeth  of  Austria, 
the  young  Princess  who  was  the  too-much-neglected  wife 
of  Charles  IX.,  intervened  in  his  favour.  A  considerable 
number  of  Huguenots  having  found  safety  in  La  Rochelle, 
Heidelberg,  England,  and  Geneva,  the  King  one  day  sent 
for  his  arms,  determined  himself  to  finish  off  those  of 
"  the  religion  "  whom  he  had  in  his  power.  He  ex- 
pressed to  the  Captain  of  the  Guards  his  intention  of 
beginning  with  the  Prince  de  Conde.  Then  Elizabeth, 
whose  role  at  Court  was  compelled,  in  the  presence  of 
Catherine,  to  be  always  one  of  self-effacement,  for  once 
took  her  courage  in  both  hands,  and  determined  to  rescue 
the  young  Prince. 

In  the  words  of  d'Aubigne  :  "  But  the  Queen 
Elizabeth,  with  a  face  all  disfigured  from  the  tears  she 
had  shed  since  the  evil  days,  came  and  threw  herself 
upon  her  knees  before  her  husband,  who  had  as  yet 
only  put  on  his  neckpiece  and  his  corslet,  and  she 
disarmed  him  by  her  prayers." 

74 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  75 

After  the  massacre  the  existence  of  Henri  de  Navarre 
and  Cond6,  who  had  been  compelled  to  abjure  their  faith 
to  save  their  lives,  was  of  the  most  equivocal  nature. 
By  the  King,  who  regretted  his  clemency  and  had  them 
closely  watched,  they  were  regarded  with  suspicion  ; 
the  austere  Protestants  suspected  them  also,  and  scorned 
them  for  having  renounced  their  religion.  Many  of 
these  loudly  cried  out  against  the  Princes  for  not 
accomplishing  the  written  vow  which  they  had  made 
to  avenge  the  death  of  Gaspard  de  Coligny.  Cond6 
at  length  won  his  freedom  by  escaping  to  Geneva. 

Many  men  would  have  succumbed  to  the  storm  raging 
around  him  on  every  side,  and  would  not  have  known 
how  to  act  under  these  embarrassing  circumstances.  Not 
so,  however,  Henri  de  Navarre.  With  Gascon  cunning, 
he  set  to  work  to  give  a  false  impression  of  himself  to 
those  about  him  at  the  Court,  to  persuade  every  one 
that  his  character  was  so  light  and  untrustworthy  as  to 
render  him  completely  harmless  and  unworthy  of  molesta- 
tion. He  hid  his  ambitions  and  fears  for  his  life  under  a 
cloak  of  indifference  and  good-natured  vice.  He  covered 
all  the  great  designs  of  a  man  who  was  but  waiting  for 
his  time  to  arrive  by  insouciance,  careless  idleness,  noisy 
frivolity,  inoffensive  good  humour,  and  joviality. 

His  days  were  passed  at  tennis,  at  the  chase,  in 
pursuit  of  a  petticoat.  He  lived  the  life  of  a  prodigal 
Prince,  in  nocturnal  adventures,  with  other  dissipated 
young  bloods  of  the  Court,  in  visiting  places  of  ill-fame, 
beating  the  watchmen  of  the  street  guard,  or  tossing  the 
passers-by  in  a  blanket.  This  display  of  a  pacific  and 
frivolous  disposition  quite  took  in  those  of  the  Court, 
who  indulged  in  jests  and  practical  jokes  at  his  expense, 
all  kinds  of  fooleries  which  he  repaid  in  kind. 


76  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Thus  this  nineteen-year-old  King,  who  so  easily  ap- 
peared to  forget  his  Kingdom,  his  ambitions,  and  his 
duties  as  the  head  of  the  Protestant  Churches,  became 
merely  an  object  of  scorn.  The  Catholic  lords  treated 
with  nothing  but  contempt  this  prisoner  of  a  Prince, 
one  who  was  made  sport  of  by  all  with  taunts  and  sneers, 
and  of  whom  they  said  that  "  he  had  a  bigger  nose  than 
a  Kingdom." 

To  prove  the  sincerity  of  their  conversion,  when, 
a  few  months  after  the  Massacre  of  Saint-Bartholomew, 
the  Due  d'Anjou  proceeded  at  the  head  of  a  large  army 
to  attack  the  Protestants  who  had  shut  themselves  up 
in  La  Rochelle,  the  Prince  de  Cond6  and  the  King  of 
Navarre  were  compelled  to  follow  in  his  train,  to  bear 
arms  against  their  co-religionists.  The  Due  d'Alen9on, 
who  had  had  no  share  in  the  horrors  of  the  massacre, 
and  whose  breast  was  already  filled  with  wild  ambitions 
and  hatred  of  his  brothers,  was  also  to  be  found  in 
Anjou's  camp  before  Rochelle,  a  place  which,  owing  to 
the  violent  resistance  of  the  inhabitants  and  garrison,  that 
despicable  Prince  found  himself  utterly  unable  to  reduce. 
The  army  of  the  Due  d'Anjou  was  undisciplined  and  full 
of  malcontents,  and  at  the  head  of  these  was  the  tricky 
young  Due  d'Alen9on. 

He  was  at  that  time,  in  accordance  with  the  views  of 
the  Queen-Mother,  commencing  the  negotiations,  which 
lasted  for  years,  for  the  hand  of  the  middle-aged  Queen 
Elizabeth  of  England. 

Strange  to  say,  although  the  Virgin  Queen  had  pro- 
tested violently  to  Charles  IX.  after  the  horrors  of  the 
massacre,  the  vanity  of  this  Princess  was  so  great  that 
she  constantly  encouraged  the  aspirations  of  her  boy- 
suitor,   Catholic    though    he   was.     A   close   connection, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  77 

however,  secretly  commenced  before  La  Rochelle  between 
d'Alen9on,  Henri  de  Navarre,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  the 
French  Protestants.  To  these  latter  Fran9ois  d'AIen9on 
even  promised  in  writing  to  avenge  the  death  of  the 
Admiral.  At  length,  finding  himself  much  suspected 
at  the  Court,  he  formed  a  plan  to  escape,  and  to  take 
refuge  with  Elizabeth  in  England.  He  was,  however, 
unable  to  put  it  in  practice,  especially  as  the  King  opened 
his  brother's  letters  from  Elizabeth,  and  wrote  the  answers 
to  them,  which  he  compelled  Fran9ois  to  sign. 

D'Alen9on  was  furious  at  being  compelled  to  attend 
under  his  brother  Henri's  command  at  La  Rochelle,  and 
displayed  his  irritation  so  openly  that  he  and  the  Due 
d'Anjou  almost  came  to  blows.  The  King  of  Navarre, 
d'Alen9on,  and  Conde  were  then  scheming  all  to  make 
their  escape  together  from  the  camp,  but  the  ever- 
watchful  Catherine  de  Medicis  contrived  to  thwart  their 
plans  by  bringing  about  the  election  of  her  son,  the 
Due  d'Anjou,  to  the  throne  of  Poland,  and  concluding 
peace  with  the  Protestants  on  favourable  terms  to  the 
inhabitants  of  La  Rochelle,  which  remained  untaken. 

The  Princes  were  compelled  to  return  to  the  Court 
at  Paris,  where  a  brilliant  embassy  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  Polish  nobles  arrived  in  August  1573  to  invite 
the  Due  d'Anjou  to  come  and  take  possession  of  the 
Polish  Crown. 

In  the  brilliant  festivities  which  took  place  to  entertain 
the  Ambassadors,  Marguerite  de  Valois  shone  out  as 
much  by  her  beauty  and  the  magnificence  of  her  attire 
as  by  the  erudition  which  she  displayed  by  discoursing 
with  the  Poles  in  Latin  at  their  public  reception  before 
the  whole  Court  of  France.  Brantome  expands  in 
ecstasies  over  the  beauty  of  the  twenty-year-old  Princess 


78  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

and  the  loveliness  of  her  attire  upon  this  occasion.  It 
is  evident  that  the  Queen  of  Navarre  was,  indeed,  the 
triumphant  queen  of  the  fete,  and  acknowledged  as  such 
by  the  magnificent  Polish  nobles,  who  said  that,  having 
seen  her,  they  wished  to  behold  nothing  more. 

When  the  festivities  were  concluded,  and  the  Poles 
had  left,  Henri  d'Anjou  showed  but  little  inclination  to 
follow  in  their  train,  to  go  away  into  exile  in  a  barbarous 
country,  even  if  he  were  to  become  its  king.  At  the 
Court  of  the  Valois  was  to  be  found  everything  that  his 
heart  desired,  and  notably  his  fair  mistress,  Marie  de 
Cleves,  Princesse  de  Cond^,  to  whom,  after  his  departure, 
he  wrote  letters  in  his  own  blood. 

Another  reason  why  Henri  d'Anjou,  secretly  en- 
couraged by  his  mother,  whose  favourite  son  he  was, 
delayed  leaving  Paris,  was  the  weak  state  of  health  into 
which  Charles  IX.  had  fallen.  Thinking  that  his  brother 
would  soon  die,  and  he  be  on  hand  to  succeed  him,  he 
determined  to  remain  on  the  spot.  He  had  the  more 
reason  for  this  as  he  dreaded  lest,  in  his  absence,  seated 
upon  the  throne  of  Poland,  his  ambitious  younger  brother, 
d'Alen^on,  should  forestall  him  upon  the  throne  of 
France. 

Charles  IX.,  however,  saw  plainly  through  the  wishes 
of  his  mother  and  his  brother,  and  angrily  resented  seeing 
the  Due  d'Anjou  waiting  to  step  into  his  shoes  as  soon  as 
he  should  be  dead.  Getting  into  one  of  his  fits  of  fury, 
the  King  at  length  screamed,  "  My  brother,  if  you  will 
not  leave  of  good-will,  I  will  compel  you  to  do  so  by 
force  !  "  Anjou  was  compelled  to  go,  especially  as 
Charles,  with  all  the  Court,  left  Paris  with  him,  in  order 
to  see  him  well  over  the  frontier  and  out  of  France. 

Marguerite  had  formerly  been  on  the  most  tender  and 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  79 

afFectionate  terms  with  her  brother  of  Anjou,  especially  as 
she  had  faithfully  complied  with  his  earnest  request  to 
keep  him  and  his  interests  ever  in  his  mother's  mind 
during  his  absences  at  the  wars  against  the  Huguenots. 
Of  late,  however,  one  of  those  detestable  mignons,  or 
darlings,  with  whom  Henri  III.  ever  surrounded  himself, 
to  the  disgust  of  all  decent  people,  had  wrought  mischief 
between  the  brother  and  sister,  causing  an  absolute  break 
in  their  former  loving  relations.  The  name  of  this 
favourite  was  Louis  Beranger  Du  Guast.  He  was 
arrogant  and  overbearing,  and  the  historian  De  Thou 
says  of  him  :  "  He  did  not  spare  the  first  ladies  of  the 
Court,  whose  reputation  he  publicly  assailed  even  in  the 
presence  of  his  Majesty  ;  he  had  even  the  impudence  to 
slander  one  illustrious  Princess." 

Unfortunately  for  Marguerite,  her  levity  of  conduct 
only  gave  Du  Guast  too  many  opportunities  to  slander 
her,  both  at  this  time  and  later.  She  had,  however,  felt 
deeply  grieved  by  the  change  in  her  brother's  conduct 
towards  her,  especially  as  Catherine  de  M^dicis  had 
followed  her  favourite  son's  lead,  and  treated  her  daughter 
with  marked  coldness,  and  such  indifference  as  even  to 
endanger  her  life  at  the  time  of  the  massacre,  as  we  have 
seen. 

During  the  journey  across  France,  however.  Mar- 
guerite says  of  her  brother  d'Anjou  :  "  He  endeavoured 
to  renew  his  friendship  with  me,  trying  by  all  the  means 
in  his  power  to  make  me  forget  the  bad  turns  and  in- 
gratitude he  had  shown  me." 

Marguerite  understood  well  the  reason  to  be  that,  as 
before,  he  wished  his  sister  to  support  his  interests  in  his 
absence.  That  Catherine  de  Medicis  did  not  expect  this 
to    be   prolonged,   and    that    she   expected   Charles  IX., 


8o  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

whose  end  many  think  she  assisted  with  poison,  to  die 
soon  is  evident  by  her  last  words  to  her  beloved  Henri  : 
"  Adieu,  my  son  ;  you  will  not  be  long  away." 

Charles  IX.,  owing  to  his  increasing  ill-health,  had  only 
been  able  to  accompany  his  detested  brother  a  short 
distance  on  this  journey  ;  but  it  had  been  far  enough 
to  ensure  the  fact  of  his  leaving  France,  and  Catherine 
and  the  Court  had  gone  on  with  Anjou  as  far  as  Lorraine. 
The  Due  d'Alen^on  and  Henri  de  Navarre  had,  in  spite 
of  themselves,  been  compelled  to  accompany  the  Queen- 
Mother,  and  on  their  return  journey  these  two  commenced 
to  plot  to  escape  from  the  Court,  where  they  were  always 
under  surveillance.  Their  escape  was  all  arranged,  but 
unexpectedly  prevented. 

Marguerite,  finding  out  from  Miossans,  one  of  the 
gentlemen  whom  she  had  saved  from  death,  that  her 
brother  and  her  husband  were  about  to  join  the  forces 
of  the  Huguenots,  hurried  to  give  information  to  her 
mother  and  the  King,  and  thus  prevented  their  proposed 
evasion.  The  information  had,  however,  only  been  given 
under  the  solemn  promise  that  no  harm  should  happen 
to  the  two  Princes,  and  that  the  measures  to  be  taken  to 
prevent  their  flight  should  be  so  skilfully  contrived  that 
they  should  not  be  able  even  to  suspect  that  their  designs 
had  been  made  known.  In  her  Memoirs  Marguerite 
says  that  she  was  guilty  of  this  act  of  treachery  "to 
prevent  the  ill  effect  which  would  have  brought  so  many 
evils  upon  them  and  upon  this  State." 

It  is,  however,  difficult  for  us  nowadays  to  understand 
her  real  motives  for  giving  away  the  brother  whom  she 
says  that  she  dearly  loved,  and  the  husband  to  whom 
she  affects  to  show  herself  as  being  devoted.  We  can 
hardly  believe  her  when  she  says  that  her  act  of  treason 


HENRI    DE    NAVARRE,    AS    A    YOUNG    MAN 
{From  a  contemporary  drax'ing  in  the  Collection  Hennin) 


8i 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  83 

was  really  with  the  idea  of  rendering  them  a  service  ; 
it  seems  far  more  probable  that  it  was  the  result  of  a 
merely  feminine  and  personal  reason.  This  may  have 
been  that,  by  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  which  would 
commence  as  soon  as  the  two  princes  had  put  themselves 
at  the  head  of  the  Huguenot  forces  and  those  of  the 
Politiques,  she  would  lose  the  society  of  her  latest  lover. 
This  was  a  gentleman  from  Provence  named  La  Mole, 
whom  she  held  very  near  to  her  heart,  and  who  was  in 
the  service  of  the  Due  d'Alencjon. 

It  will  be  remembered  by  readers  of  Dumas's  novel, 
La  Reine  Margot,  that  he  makes  of  this  La  Mole  the 
hero  of  the  adventure  in  Marguerite's  bedchamber  which 
actually  befell  the  Vicomte  de  Leran  on  the  night  of  the 
Massacre  of  Saint-Bartholomew. 


CHAPTER   IX 

Henri  and  Madame  de   Sauve 

1572—1574 

Marguerite  takes  very  good  care  in  her  Memoirs  to 
avoid  any  allusion  to  her  own  marital  infidelities,  and 
therefore  there  is  not  to  be  found  in  them  anything 
concerning  her  relations  with  the  unfortunate  La  Mole. 
She  merely  mentions  the  conspiracy,  in  which  he  and 
his  friend  M.  de  Coconas,  the  two  intimates  of  the 
Due  d'Alen9on,  were  concerned,  and  the  death  of  La 
Mole,  as  an  incident  of  the  discovery  of  the  Politique 
and  Huguenot  plot,  of  which  she  asserts  that  La  Mole 
himself  gave  information  to  the  Queen-Mother. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  is  not,  however,  by  any  means 
so  reticent  where  her  husband  is  concerned,  and  accord- 
ingly, during  the  two  years  passed,  after  his  marriage, 
by  Henri  as  a  kind  of  prisoner  at  the  Court,  she  gives 
us  plenty  of  insight  into  the  state  of  the  heart  of  "  le 
Bearnais,"  and  tells  us  plainly  of  his  earliest  infidelities, 
which  were  with  Madame  de  Sauve. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  frequent  lapses  of 
Marguerite  gave  ample  excuse  for  those  of  Henri  de 
Navarre,  and  it  matters  but  little  as  to  which  of  the 
precious  pair  was  the  first  to  disregard  the  marriage-tie, 
since  husband  and  wife — for  a  time,  at  all  events — lived 

84 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  85 

on  the  most  friendly  terms,  and  shut  their  eyes  to  each 
other's  amourettes,  or  confided  them  to  one  another. 
Marguerite  herself  says  that  she  was  in  the  habit  of 
receiving  her  husband's  confidences  concerning  his  love- 
affairs  at  this  early  stage  in  their  married  life,  and  there 
is  plenty  of  evidence  that  he  frequently  only  treated  as 
a  joke  what  he  was  told  about  her  own.  The  future 
Henri  IV.  and  d'Alen9on,  being  retained  at  the  Court 
of  Charles  IX.  as  prisoners,  had,  according  to  the  Due 
de  Sully,  but  little  to  divert  them  "  except  flying  quails 
in  their  rooms "  ;  but,  he  adds,  "  these  two  Princes 
amused  themselves  at  another  game,  which  was  to  caress 
the  ladies,  with  the  result  that  they  both  became  in  love 
with  the  same  beauty,  who  was  Madame  de  Sauve." 

This  young  lady  was  Charlotte  de  Beaune,  daughter 
of  the  Baron  de  Semblan9ay,  who  was  grandson  of 
the  unfortunate  Jacques  de  Semblan9ay,  Treasurer  of 
Francois  I.,  whom  that  King's  mother,  Louise  de  Savoie, 
caused  to  be  hanged  for  revealing  to  her  son  the  manner 
in  which  she  had  herself  pocketed  the  funds  intended  for 
the  army  in  Italy.  The  estates  of  the  Treasurer  were 
sequestrated,  but,  being  restored  later,  they  had  descended 
to  his  great-grandchild  Charlotte,  who  was  thus  a  very 
rich  heiress.  She  was  married  at  a  very  early  age  to 
Simon  de  Fizes,  Baron  de  Sauve,  a  Secretary  of  State  to 
Charles  IX.,  and  who  had  been  one  of  the  originators  of 
the  Saint-Bartholomew  massacre.  This  man  seems  to 
have  been  perfectly  indifferent  to  his  lovely  young  wife's 
morals,  or  rather  her  lack  of  them — he  enjoyed  her 
immense  fortune,  and  that  sufficed  him.  For  that  matter, 
it  was  quite  open  to  her  to  tell  her  husband  that  she  was 
but  fulfilling  her  political  functions  as  well  as  he,  since 
many  of  the  immoralities  of  this  member  of  the  Queen- 


86  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Mother's  Flying  Squadron  of  pretty  women  were,  from 
motives  of  the  highest  policy,  directly  instigated  by 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  and  by  the  minion  Du  Guast, 
acting  on  behalf  of  his  master,  Henri  III. 

Charlotte  de  Beaune  was  twice  married,  and  that  she 
behaved  just  as  lightly  in  the  time  of  her  second  marriage 
with  the  Marquis  de  Noirmoutier  as  during  her  first 
period  of  wedlock,  was  notorious. 

This  woman   was   endowed  with  all  the  graces  re- 
quired to  captivate   the  heart  and  the   senses,   and  she 
bewitched,   at    the   same    time,    not    only  the    King  of 
Navarre   and   d'Alen9on,   but  was  likewise  on    intimate 
terms  with  Du  Guast  and  the  Due  de  Guise.     Catherine 
de  M6dicis  is  said  to  have  reaped  more   success  in  her 
policies  by  the  employment  of  her  young  ladies  than  by 
diplomacy,  and  more  conquests  were  gained  for  her  by 
the  good  use  they  made  of  their  beaux  yeux  than  by  the 
talents  of  her   Generals.     Of  these  ladies,   Madame  de 
Sauve  was  the  most  skilful  in  the  use  of  enticing  and 
meretricious  arts.     These,  Mezeray  says,  "  she  employed 
not  more  for  the  designs  of  the  Queen  than  for  her  own 
satisfaction,  playing  with   all  her  dying  swains  with   so 
absolute  an  empire  that  she  never  lost  one  of  them,  while 
constantly  adding  to  their  numbers."     The  mission  con- 
fided to  Madame  de  Sauve  by  Catherine  was  to  stir  up 
dissensions    between    her    son-in-law   and    her    youngest 
son.     Both  of  these  Princes,  being   in  disgrace  at   the 
Court,  were  united  by  a  bond  of  sympathy  which  made 
them    dangerous  ;    this   alliance    it   was   determined    to 
destroy  by  making  them  rivals  of  one  another  in  love. 

Madame  de  Sauve  succeeded  admirably.  The  siren 
had  but  to  throw  a  bewitching  glance  first  to  the  King 
of  Navarre,  then  to  the  Due  d'Alen9on,  when,  lo  !  and 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  87 

behold,  she  had  them  both  chained  to  her  pretty  feet, 
and  casting  furious  glances  at  one  another. 

After  an  agonising  last  illness,  during  which  he 
suffered  from  terrible  sweats  of  blood  and  imagined  that 
he  saw  the  spectres  of  those  slain  in  the  massacre, 
Charles  IX.  died  on  May  30th,  1574.  He  left  no  issue 
by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  of  Austria,  but  one  son  by 
his  mistress,  Marie  Touchet,  who  became  the  Due 
d'Angouleme. 

Warned  by  his  mother  to  lose  no  time  in  returning 
to  take  possession  of  the  throne  of  France,  the  King  of 
Poland  fled  from  his  palace  at  Cracow  in  the  night-time, 
and,  carrying  oflF  the  Polish  crown-jewels  with  him, 
galloped  away  as  hard  as  he  could  go,  pursued  by  his 
dignitaries  of  State.  These  he  eluded,  and,  crossing  the 
Austrian  dominions,  reached  Venice,  where  he  remained 
for  several  months  indulging  in  the  wildest  forms  of 
licentiousness. 

At  length  Henri  III.  reached  France,  where  the 
uneasy  Catherine  de  M6dicis  met  him  with  the  whole 
Court  at  Lyon.  Henri  de  Navarre  and  d'Alen^on,  who, 
for  their  supposed  share  in  the  conspiracy  of  La  Mole, 
had  been  imprisoned  before  the  death  of  Charles  IX., 
and  kept  subsequently  in  the  Chateau  de  Vincennes — 
where  Charles  had  died — by  Catherine's  orders,  were  set 
at  liberty  by  the  new  King's  instructions  before  his  arrival 
in  France.  Before  his  death  Charles  had  taken  a  most 
affectionate  farewell  of  his  brother-in-law,  the  King  of 
Navarre,  but  for  his  brother  d'Alen9on  he  had  had 
nothing  but  a  few  cold  words. 

Henri  de  Navarre  and  d'Alen9on,  having  both  sworn 
to  Catherine  not  to  make  any  attempt  against  the 
Majesty   of  the  new  King,  were  taken    by  the    Queen- 


88  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Mother  with  her  to  Lyon,  both  of  them  being  placed 
by  her  under  no  other  guard  than  the  beaux  yeux  of 
Madame  de  Sauve,  who  was  then  the  Queen's  Mistress 
of  the  Robes. 

Speaking  of  her  later,  to  his  great  Minister  the 
Due  de  Sully,  Henri  IV.  said,  concerning  himself  and  his 
brother-in-law  :  "  Our  first  hatreds  came  from  that 
woman.  She  used  to  show  me  the  utmost  good  will,  but 
before  me  she  would  always  snub  him,  which  made  him 
furious."  Henri  flattered  himself  that  he  alone  enjoyed 
the  favours  of  this  highly  placed  courtesan,  but  the 
Due  d'Alen9on  was  in  fact  equally  admitted  to  her 
intimacy.  Thus  they  became  furiously  jealous  of  one 
another,  and,  from  friends,  became  and  remained  bitter 
enemies. 

And  yet  at  that  very  time,  according  to  Marguerite, 
*'  the  Due  de  Guise,  Du  Guast,  de  Souvray,  and  several 
others  were  all  more  beloved  by  this  Circe  than  either  of 
them."  But  for  this  the  brothers-in-law  did  not  trouble 
their  heads  ;  all  that  infuriated  each  was  the  attentions 
paid  to  the  bewitching  siren  by  the  other. 

Marguerite  has  much  to  say  about  this  matter,  the 
more  so,  perhaps,  because  it  gives  her  the  opportunity  of 
indulging  her  hatred  of  her  enemy  Du  Guast,  whom, 
by-the-bye,  she  eventually  contrived  to  have  assassinated. 
"  After  the  disaster  of  the  death  of  King  Charles  IX.," 
says  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  "  a  misfortune  for  me  and  for 
France,  we  went  to  Lyon  to  meet  the  King  of  Poland, 
who,  still  dominated  by  Le  Guast,  brought  about  the 
same  results  as  before,  by  the  same  means  ;  and,  listening 
to  the  counsels  of  this  pernicious  wretch,  whom  he  had 
left  in  France  to  further  his  interests,  conceived  a  violent 
jealousy  against  my  brother  d'Alen9on,  being  suspicious 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  89 

of  his  friendship  with  the  King,  my  husband.  He  saw 
in  me  the  bond  and  the  only  link  that  bound  their 
friendship,  and  thought  that  the  best  means  of  dissolving 
their  alliance  would  be,  on  the  one  side,  to  put  me  at 
loggerheads  and  on  bad  terms  with  the  King,  my 
husband  ;  and,  on  the  other,  to  manage  that  Madame 
de  Sauve,  of  whom  they  were  both  the  servitors,  should 
treat  them  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  them  extremely 
jealous. 

"  This  abominable  design,  the  source  of  infinite  ills 
which  my  brother  and  I  have  since  suffered,  was  carried 
out  with  as  much  hatred,  ruse,  and  artifice  as  the  way  in 
which  it  had  been  invented." 

Not  content  with  this,  Du  Guast  and  the  King, 
while  still  at  Lyon,  caused  Marguerite  public  dishonour 
by  a  vile  trick  intended  to  discredit  her  in  the  eyes  of 
her  husband  and  all  the  Court.  One  day  when,  with  a 
joyous  party  of  six  or  eight  persons  of  both  sexes,  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  had  gone  to  visit  a  convent,  the  King 
and  his  mignons  pretended  that  they  had  seen  her  coach 
standing  at  the  door  of  the  lodging  of  Entragues,  nick- 
named Le  Bel  Entraguet,  or  Bid^,  who  had  been  one  of 
her  earliest  lovers. 

This  nobleman  was  sick  at  the  time,  and  the  malicious 
mignon  Ruff6,  sent  by  the  King  nominally  to  verify  his 
sister's  presence  in  Bid6's  apartment,  came  back  to 
Henri  III.  and  his  dissolute  companions,  saying  loudly, 
"  They  are  not  there  now,  but  they  have  been  there  ; 
the  birds  have  flown,"  or  words  to  that  effect. 

Gleefully  Henri  III.  drove  off,  and,  after  first  in- 
forming Henri  de  Navarre  that  his  wife  was  openly 
unfaithful  to  him  with  Bide,  whose  lodging  she  was  in, 
repeated  the  same  lie  to  Catherine  de  M^dicis.     Henri 

6 


90  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

de  Navarre,  who  did  not  believe  a  word  of  the  story, 
listened  to  the  King  laughingly  and  pretended  to  make 
sport  of  the  circumstance,  but  he  hurried  off  to  his  wife 
at  once  to  put  her  on  her  guard.  He  informed  her  of  the 
plot  against  her  honour,  said  that  he  knew  it  to  be  false, 
and  told  her  that  he  very  well  understood  the  reason  of 
the  lie  to  be  simply  to  breed  dissension  between  them. 
He  further  told  Marguerite  to  hurry  off  to  the  Queen- 
Mother  at  once  and  clear  herself.  By  Catherine  de 
M^dicis  her  daughter  was  very  ill-received.  In  the 
hearing  of  the  ladies  of  the  Court,  Marguerite  was 
violently  upbraided  for  her  levity  of  conduct,  and  not  a 
word  that  she  could  say  was  listened  to  or  believed. 

Eventually,  however,  the  testimony  of  Marguerite's 
many  witnesses  had  to  be  listened  to.  Ruffe  was  con- 
victed of  being  a  liar,  and  Henri  III.  obliged  to  apologise 
profusely  to  his  outraged  sister,  aU  the  blame  for  the  false 
report  being,  however,  thrown  by  him  and  his  mother 
upon  an  imaginary  servant  of  the  King,  for  whose  name 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  asked  in  vain. 

After  this  public  insult,  which  had  been  deliberately 
planned.  Marguerite  naturally  despised  and  hated  her 
brother,  but  the  hatred  which  she  had  for  Du  Guast  knew 
no  bounds.  After  this  she  made  her  husband  and  her 
brother  swear  an  eternal  pact  of  friendship  with  one 
another  ;  but  alas  !  love  and  passion  were  stronger  than 
oaths,  and  the  malign  influence  of  Du  Guast  was  suffi- 
cient to  stir  up  Madame  de  Sauve  to  take  a  new  tack 
effectually  to  separate  husband  and  wife  when  the  lie 
about  Bid6  had  failed. 

Madame  de  Sauve  now  informed  the  Bearnais  that  his 
wife  was  violently  jealous  of  him,  and  that  he  had  better 
beware    of  her.     The   result   of  this   was  that,  whereas 


CHARLES    IX.,    KING    OF    FRANXE 

Second  Son  of  Catherine  de  M^dicis 

(From  a  painting  by  F.  Clouel) 


91 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  93 

Henri  had  hitherto  talked  freely  to  his  wife  on  the  subject 
of  his  love-affairs,  she  being,  she  says,  *'  in  no  wise  jealous 
and  only  anxious  for  his  contentment,"  he  now  withdrew 
his  confidence  from  her,  and  scarcely  spoke  to  her  at  all. 

Worse  than  this,  he  now  came  back  very  late  every 
night  from  the  apartments  of  his  mistress,  and  as  Madame 
de  Sauve  insisted  upon  her  lover  attending  daily  at  the 
Queen-Mother's  up-rising,  where  her  duties  compelled 
her  to  be  present,  and  as  she  kept  him  with  her  all  day 
long.  Marguerite  hardly  saw  her  husband  at  all. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  Queen  of  Navarre  now  tried 
with  might  and  main  to  disentangle  either  her  husband  or 
her  brother  from  the  snares  of  the  bewitching  Lady  of 
the  Robes,  for  in  one  single  night  Madame  de  Sauve 
could  undo  all  that  she  had  done  in  a  week.  Sometimes 
this  she-devil  feigned  passion  for  Henri,  sometimes  for 
Fran9ois  ;  sometimes  one  was  treated  coldly  or  snubbed, 
sometimes  the  other,  until  at  length  the  King  of  Navarre 
and  the  Due  d'Alen^on  sought  to  decide  their  quarrel 
sword  in  hand  and  man  to  man. 

Meanwhile  Du  Guast  and  Henri  III.  sneered  and 
chuckled  over  the  success  of  their  plans,  and  Marguerite 
was  left  alone,  to  rely  for  all  comfort  and  consolation 
upon  the  ministrations  of  her  new  lover,  the  famous 
swordsman  and  lady-killer,  Louis  de  Clermont,  usually 
known  as  Bussy  d'Amboise. 

The  terms  of  enmity  existing  between  the  Royal  rivals 
at  this  time  can  be  best  illustrated  by  an  anecdote  from 
the  pages  of  the  historian  Matthieu  :  "  One  night,  when 
the  Due  d'Alen9on  was  with  Madame  de  Sauve,  the  King 
of  Navarre  prepared  a  page's  trick  for  him,  with  the 
result  that,  on  coming  away,  he  knocked  up  against  some- 
thing so  roughly  that  he  had  his  eye  blackened.     On  the 


94  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

morrow  the  King  of  Navarre,  spying  him  from  a  distance, 
cried  out,  *  Eh  !  Mon  Dieu,  what  is  that  I  see  in  the  eye  ? 
In  the  eye  !  oh  !  what  a  dreadful  accident ! '  The  Due 
answered  shortly,  *  It  is  nothing  ;  very  little  seems  to 
astonish  you.'  Henri  continuing  to  lament,  the  Due, 
much  piqued,  but  feigning  laughter,  advanced,  and  said 
in  his  ear,  *  Whoever  shall  say  that  I  got  it  where  you 
think,  I  will  make  him  swallow  the  lie.' 

"  Souvray  and  Du  Guast  intervening,  prevented  them 
from  fighting." 


CHAPTER   X 
Marguerite    and    La    Mole 

1574 

In  the  same  manner  as  Marguerite  de  Valols  had  been 
the  cause  of  the  failure  of  her  husband  and  favourite 
brother  to  escape,  when  returning  with  the  Queen- 
Mother  from  the  frontiers  of  the  Kingdom,  so  was  she 
also  the  means  of  the  discovery  of  the  great  plot  of  1574, 
and  of  that  which  she  had  certainly  not  contemplated, 
the  death  of  her  lover  La  Mole,  and  his  friend  Annibal 
de  Coconas.  These  events  took  place  during  the  absence 
I     of  the  Due  d'Anjou  upon  the  throne  of  Poland. 

The  conspiracy  was  mainly  headed  by  the  great  lords 
of  the  Politique  or  Moderate  Catholic  party,  closely 
allied  to  the  Huguenots,  and  its  cause  was  the  treachery 
of  Catherine  de  Medicis  in  various  matters.  She  en- 
deavoured, in  a  perfidious  manner,  to  effect  in  peace-time 
the  recapture  of  La  Rochelle,  but  failed.  She  likewise 
sent  off  Maurevert,  the  famous  *'  King's  Assassin,"  who 
had  failed  to  kill  the  Admiral  de  Coligny  with  his 
arquebus,  upon  a  new  mission  of  murder.  This  was  to 
poison  La  Noue,  the  great  Protestant  leader,  and  the 
Mar6chal  de  Montmorency,  usually  spoken  of  as  the 
Due  d'Amville  or  Damville.  He  was  Charles  de  Mont- 
morency, third  son  of  the  Constable  Anne,  killed  at  the 

95 


9^  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

battle  of  Saint-Denis  in  1567.  We  also  meet  with  him 
occasionally  under  the  name  of  M.  de  Meru  in  Mar- 
guerite's Memoirs. 

This  plot  failed,  and  soon  four  members  of  the  great 
Montmorency  family,  the  Kings  of  Languedoc,  descended 
from  Edred,  King  of  England,  were  ready  to  take  the 
field.  Among  them  was  the  Seigneur  de  Thore,  who 
was  Guillaume,  youngest  son  of  the  Constable,  and  a 
very  gallant  soldier  who  distinguished  himself  greatly 
in  subsequent  years  while  fighting  against  The  League. 

While  La  Noue  was  organising  the  Protestant  forces, 
the  Politiques  soon  had  another  recruit,  in  the  shape 
of  the  young  and  handsome  Vicomte  de  Turenne,  after- 
wards to  become  one  of  the  lovers  of  the  Queen  of 
Navarre.  He  was  a  great-nephew  of  the  Constable 
Anne  de  Montmorency,  and  connected  by  ties  of  blood 
with  the  Bourbon  race  to  which  Marguerite's  husband 
belonged.  France  was  thus  seething  with  sedition, 
another  great  noble  ready  to  take  up  arms  being  the 
Marechal  de  Brissac-Cosse.  Joseph  de  Boniface,  Seigneur 
de  la  Mole,  was  the  go-between  and  confidant  of  the 
various  leaders.  He  was  a  very  handsome  young  noble, 
and  renowned  as  being  the  finest  dancer  of  the  Court. 
There  he  seems  to  have  enjoyed  the  position  of  a  privi- 
leged merry-fellow,  to  whom  much  was  permitted.  La 
Mole  was  likewise  celebrated  for  two  things  :  one  of 
these  being  the  frequency  of  his  attendance  at  the  Mass, 
the  other  his  great  successes  with  the  fair  sex.  All  of 
the  time  that  he  was  not  employing  in  the  pursuit  of  a 
petticoat  he  passed  in  hearing  the  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Office.  When  laughed  at  by  his  companions,  or  the 
Due  d'Alen9on,  whose  great  favourite  he  was,  for  his 
excessive    devotion.    La    Mole    explained    that    by    his 


and  of  Marguerite  dc  Valois  97 

frequent  attendance  at  church,  which  took  place  several 
times  a  day,  he  was  absolved  from  the  consequences  of 
his  many  sins  against  the  moral  code.  This  young 
noble  was  hardly  of  the  type  to  make  a  great  or  success- 
ful conspirator,  his  vanity  being  so  great  that,  relying  on 
the  protection  of  d'Alen9on,  he  attempted  to  browbeat 
the  great  nobles  who  headed  the  plot,  and  arrogantly 
asserted  for  himself  the  right  to  an  equal  place  with 
them  at  their  council-table.  Among  those  heading  the 
rebellion  against  Charles  IX.,  or  rather  the  authority  of 
his  mother,  there  soon  ran  a  rumour  to  the  effect  that 
not  only  the  death  of  Damville,  but  that  of  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  de  Conde  was  being  plotted 
at  the  Court.  Catherine,  well  knowing  that  the  Due 
de  Montmorency  sought  for  the  exalted  rank  of  Lieu- 
tenant-General  of  the  Kingdom,  increased  the  discontent. 
Faithful  to  her  usual  system  of  preserving  the  balance 
of  power  between  the  great  parties,  she  offered  this  very 
high  post  to  the  ruling  Due  de  Lorraine,  the  husband 
of  her  daughter  Claude,  and  the  cousin  of  Henri  de 
Guise. 

Thereupon  the  Due  de  Montmorency  openly  ex- 
pressed the  demand  that  the  post  should  be  conferred 
upon  the  Due  d'Alen^on,  a  request  which  only  excited 
the  greater  anger  of  the  Queen-Mother  and  Charles  IX. 

This  young  King  hated,  his  brother's  favourite, 
La  Mole  as  much  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  detest 
any  one.  During  the  siege  of  La  Rochelle  he  twice  gave 
instructions  to  his  brother  Anjou  to  strangle  him,  Lestoille 
says,  *'  on  account  of  certain  private  matters  more  con- 
nected with  love  than  with  war,  for  he  was  a  gentleman 
who  was  a  greater  champion  of  Venus  than  of  Mars." 

Henri-Robert,   Prince   de  Sedan,  Due   de   Bouillon, 


98  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  father-in-law  of  the  Vicomte  de  Turenne,  was  also 
concerned  in  this  conspiracy. 

The  Memoires  of  Turenne,  the  eventual  successor  to 
the  possessions  and  Duchy  of  Robert  de  la  Marck,  the 
"  Wild  Boar  of  the  Ardennes,"  are  a  most  precious 
source  of  information  for  everything  dealing  with  this 
period.     He  remarks,  of  the  events  we  are  describing  : 

"  Among  all  these  things  there  were  amours  mixed 
up,  which  cause  the  greater  number  of  the  quarrels  of 
the  Court,  and  there  are  very  few  or  no  affairs  there 
which  the  women  have  not  got  their  share  in,  and  most 
often  they  are  the  cause  of  infinite  misfortunes  to  those 
who  love  them  or  whom  they  love." 

While  Henri  de  Navarre  was  playing  the  part  of 
jolly  good  fellow,  to  keep  in  the  good  graces  of  his 
cousin  Charles  IX.,  whose  prisoner  he  practically  was, 
amusing  the  fiery  and  sickly  young  man  with  his  broad 
stories  and  farces,  or  else  running  about  after  the  Queen's 
girls,  Marguerite  was  left  pretty  much  to  her  own  devices. 
She  was,  it  must  be  remembered,  celebrated  throughout 
all  Europe  for  her  beauty.  Brantome  says  that  strangers 
came  from  all  parts  simply  to  see  her,  and  returned 
saying  that  they  had  seen  "  all  the  beauty  of  the  world." 
Neglected  by  a  husband  who  loved  everybody's  wife  but 
his  own,  however  handsome  she  might  be,  it  is  no  matter 
for  surprise  if  she  showed  too  much  complaisance  to  those 
young  nobles  who  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to 
please  and  pay  their  Court  to  the  lovely  "  Reine  Margot." 

Henri,  of  course,  was  only  too  well  aware  of  the  fact 
that,  even  before  her  marriage,  this  delicious  Queen  of 
Hearts  of  the  dissolute  Court  of  Catherine  had  been 
far  too  ready  to  accord  the  favours  of  her  inestimable 
and  world-renowned  beauty  to  those  ardent  adorers,  ever 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  99 

so  ready  to  cast  themselves  at  her  feet.  To  this  fact 
must  in  a  great  measure  doubtless  be  ascribed  the  in- 
difference of  "  le  Bearnais  "  to  his  wife's  excessive  charms. 

One  there  was,  however,  who  was  by  no  means 
indifferent  to  them  ;  nor  was  their  owner  indifferent  to 
him  in  turn,  although  the  pleasing  amourette  which 
ensued  became  a  tragedy  and  cost  him  his  head,  after 
agonising  tortures.  This  was  the  champion  dancer  of 
the  Court,  the  great  ladies'  man,  Joseph  de  Boniface, 
Seigneur  de  la  Mole. 

The  day  for  the  rising  was  already  fixed,  and  the 
King  of  Navarre  and  d'Alen9on  had  arranged  to  make 
their  escape  from  Saint-Germain,  where  the  Court  then 
was,  and  to  join  the  insurgents  on  Shrove  Tuesday  1574. 
Something,  however,  went  wrong ;  the  expected  force 
of  Huguenots  did  not  arrive  in  the  vicinity,  and  mean- 
while Catherine  de  M^dicis  gained  an  inkling  of  the  plot. 
Aware  of  everything  that  went  on  at  the  Court,  the 
Queen-Mother  knew  perfectly  well  of  her  daughter's 
liaison  with  La  Mole.  She  went  to  her  daughter  and 
made  use  of  her,  commanding  her  to  employ  the  intervals 
between  tender  love-passages  in  extracting  all  the  details 
of  the  conspiracy  from  her  lover. 

What  could  the  foolish  La  Mole  do,  when,  with  her 
glorious  eyes  melting  into  his  own,  the  beautiful  young 
Queen  of  Navarre  begged  him,  as  a  proof  of  his  love 
for  her,  to  tell  her  all  his  secrets  ?  With  misplaced 
confidence,  he  poured  out  into  her  ear  every  detail  of 
the  conspiracy — not  his  secrets  alone,  but  those  of  half 
of  the  important  personages  in  the  Kingdom. 

And  Marguerite — what  did  she  do  ?  The  fair  traitress, 
after  rewarding  her  lover  with  an  embrace,  went  off  to 
her  mother — and  revealed  everything. 


loo  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

This  occurred  on  February  23rd,  1574,  and  terrible 
was  the  excitement  that  ensued,  a  description  of  which 
is  given  by  Turenne,  later  Due  de  Bouillon,  himself  one 
of  the  conspirators. 

"  Upon  the  fall  of  night,  behold  the  alarm  so  hot 
that,  not  knowing  the  cause,  perturbation  was  great. 
The  baggage  was  loaded  up,  the  Cardinals  of  Lorraine  and 
Guise  mounted  their  horses  to  fly  to  Paris,  and  others 
followed  their  example.  The  drums  of  the  Swiss,  of 
the  French  corps  and  companies,  were  all  beating  the 
assembly.  ... 

*'  The  departure  of  the  King  was  instantly  decided 
upon.  My  uncle,  M.  de  Thore,  and  I,  who  were  at 
the  village,  at  the  lodging  of  M.  le  Connetable,  were 
ready  to  be  off  if  I  would  only  listen  to  him.  Having 
gone  into  the  Chateau,  where  the  King  of  Navarre  had 
also  been  sent  for,  I  found  Monsieur  (d'Alen9on)  and 
entered  the  Queen's  chamber,  where  the  King  of  Navarre 
approached  me  and  said  in  my  ear,  *  Our  man  tells 
everything  !  '  Then  I  approached  my  uncle,  de  Thor6, 
and  told  him  to  be  off,  for  if  he  remained  he  was  a  dead 
man,  for  all  the  more  reason  that  Monsieur,  from  his 
weakness  and  want  of  constancy,  had  deeply  implicated 
him  in  his  own  confession  to  the  Queen-Mother,  and 
through  the  information  given  by  La  Mole." 

The  Due  de  Bouillon,  justly  incensed  at  the  perfidy 
of  La  Mole,  goes  on  to  accuse  this  foolish  young  noble 
of  having  given  away  the  plans  of  his  fellow-conspirators 
owing  to  pique,  because  he  had  not  been  admitted  to 
all  their  councils,  and,  further,  in  the  hopes  of  earning 
the  gratitude  of  the  Queen-Mother  and  the  King.  As 
Marguerite's  unhappy  lover,  instead  of  earning  either 
recompense  or  gratitude,  was  at  once  thrown  into  prison, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  loi 

where  none  save  his  inhuman  judges  and  torturers  could 
have  speech  with  him,  it  is  evident  that  these  accusations 
can  be  merely  the  result  of  supposition  on  the  part  of 
the  author  of  the  Memoirs.  The  Queen  of  Navarre 
takes  care  to  say  that  she  knew  nothing  of  the  plot, 
but  that  "it  pleased  God  that  La  Mole  should  reveal 
it  to  the  Queen,  my  mother,"  in  the  account  that  she 
gives  of  the  midnight  flight,  from  Saint-Germain  to  the 
Chateau  of  Vincennes,  of  the  frightened  King  and  the 
rest  of  the  Court. 

King  Charles,  who  was  a  very  sick  man  at  the  time, 
was  conveyed  in  a  litter  surrounded  with  troops,  while 
the  Queen-Mother  took  with  her,  for  safe  keeping,  in 
her  own  chariot  the  King  of  Navarre  and  the  Due 
d'Alen9on,  "  who  this  time  were  not  treated  so  gently 
as  the  other,"  for  the  King  did  not  allow  them  to  go  out 
of  the  castle  again.  The  Mar^chaux  de  Montmorency 
and  de  Coss6  were  made  prisoners  at  the  same  time, 
and  were  eventually  only  saved  from  being  poisoned,  by 
Catherine's  orders,  owing  to  the  success  of  the  manoeuvres 
of  d'Alen^on,  after  he  had  made  his  escape  from  the 
Court  in  the  following  reign. 

Several  authors  of  the  day,  including  Dreux  du  Radier 
and  Lestoille,  look  upon  both  the  unhappy  La  Mole  and 
the  unfortunate  Coconas  as  having  been  more  the  victims 
of  fate  than  personally  guilty,  as  having  been,  indeed, 
made  the  scapegoats  by  Charles  IX.  for  others  greater 
and  more  guilty  than  themselves.  Whatever  may  be 
the  facts  as  to  this,  it  is  generally  agreed  that  both 
Coconas  and  La  Mole,  respectively  in  love  with  Mar- 
guerite's bosom  friend,  the  Duchesse  de  Nevers,  and  the 
Queen  of  Navarre,  really  lost  their  lives  owing  to  the 
dangerous  favours  which  this  latter  accorded  to  her  lover. 


I02  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

We  have  already  mentioned  how  Charles  IX.  detested 
La  Mole,  and  in  1573  had  vainly  given  his  brother  of 
Anjou  the  order  to  strangle  him.  A  little  later,  as 
Pierre  de  Lestoille  relates  in  his  Journal  du  Regne  du 
Roy  Henry  III.^  Charles  determined  to  assassinate  this 
young  courtier  in  person,  having,  no  doubt,  more  than 
a  shrewd  suspicion  of  the  terms  that  he  was  on  with 
a  lady  of  such  exalted  rank  as  his  sister,  the  Queen 
of  Navarre.  Lestoille  says  :  "Knowing  that  La  Mole 
was  in  the  chamber  of  Madame  de  Nevers  in  the  Louvre, 
the  King  took  with  him  the  Due  de  Guise  and  certain 
gentlemen,  as  many  as  six,  to  whom  he  commanded, 
upon  their  lives,  to  strangle  him  whom  he  should  tell 
them  with  the  cords  which  he  served  out  to  them  for 
the  purpose.  Among  this  crew  the  King  himself,  carrying 
a  lighted  candle,  disposed  his  fellow-hangmen  upon  the 
route  which  La  Mole  should  take  to  go  to  the  apartments 
of  the  Due  d'Alen9on,  his  master.  By  good  luck, 
however,  the  poor  young  man  went  downstairs  instead, 
to  join  his  mistress,  without  knowing  anything  at  all 
of  what  was  awaiting  him." 

It  would  have  been  better  far  for  La  Mole  to  have  been 
strangled  then  than  to  live  a  little  longer  only  to  have  all 
his  bones  torn  from  their  sockets  in  the  terrible  torture- 
chamber.  After  his  arrest  he  was  found  to  be  in  possession 
of  a  little  image  fashioned  in  wax,  of  which  the  heart  was 
pierced  by  a  needle.  This  image  alone  was  enough  to 
ensure  his  execution.  It  had  been  made  for  him  by  Cosmo 
Ruggieri,  the  Queen-Mother's  astrologer,  who  was  also 
arrested,  as  it  was  pretended  by  Catherine  that  this  image 
represented  the  King,  whom  she  told  that  the  needle  was 
placed  in  the  heart  in  order  to  ensure  his  death.  It  was 
in  vain  that  La  Mole  declared  that  the  waxen   image 


JOSEPH    DE    BONIFACE,    SEIGNEUR    DE    LA    MOLE 

After  Decapitation 

[From  a  sketch  in  the  Bibliothique  Nationale) 


103 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  105 

was  that  of  a  woman  and  not  of  a  man,  and  that  the 
needle  was  placed  by  the  magician  in  the  heart  as  a  charm 
to  bring  him  the  love  of  an  obdurate  lady  by  penetrating 
her  recalcitrant  bosom  with  the  divine  fire  from  his  own 
enamoured  soul.  His  death  had  been  resolved  upon  in 
advance,  and  both  he  and  Coconas  had  to  die  accordingly, 
if  only  as  an  example  to  the  Princes  and  great  nobles  in 
whose  confidence  they  had  been. 

They  were  condemned,  after  being  tortured,  and,  as 
Coconas  had  been  one  of  the  bloodiest  of  the  gang  of 
butchers  of  the  Saint-Bartholomew  massacre,  but  little 
pity  can  be  accorded  to  him. 

Cosmo  Ruggieri  was,  however,  too  cunning  to  share 
the  fate  which  they  underwent  in  the  Place  de  Greve  on 
April  30th,  1574.  This  cunning  charlatan  played  upon 
the  superstitions  of  the  Queen-Mother  by  reading  in  the 
stars  that  her  fate  was  so  closely  interwoven  with  his 
own  that  when  he  should  die  she  would  die  also.  Cosmo 
was,  accordingly,  not  only  pardoned  but  restored  to 
favour,  after  passing  a  short  time  in  the  galleys. 

Lestoille  tells  us  that  the  first  to  be  executed  was 
La  Mole,  "  who  was  called  the  buffoon  of  the  Court,  and 
greatly  beloved  by  the  ladies  and  the  Due,  his  master." 
His  last  words  were,  like  his  life,  mixed  up  with  love 
and  devotion.  Just  as  the  axe  was  raised  to  sever  his 
head  from  his  tortured  body  these  were  :  "  God  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin  have  mercy  upon  my  soul  !  Recommend 
me  kindly  to  the  good  graces  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
and  all  the  ladies." 

It  is  evidently  from  the  Divorce  Satyrique  that  the 
elder  Dumas  must  have  drawn  the  picture  which  he 
gives  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre  and  the  Duchesse  de 
Nevers  rescuing  the  heads  of  their  respective  lovers  from 


io6  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  hangman  after  the  execution,  when,  their  bodies 
having  been  divided  into  four  quarters  and  attached  to 
gibbets,  their  heads  were  stuck  up  upon  poles.  That 
pamphlet  says  :  "  These  charitable  ladies  did  not  long 
leave  exposed  to  the  people  these  sad  remains  of  their 
unhappy  lovers ;  they  carried  off  their  heads  them- 
selves, put  them  in  their  chariot,  went  off  with  them  to 
the  Chapel  of  Saint-Martin,  and,  after  bathing  them  in 
their  tears,  buried  them  themselves  there  with  their  own 
fair  hands."  For  long  Marguerite  mourned  the  loss  of 
her  beloved  La  Mole,  whose  praises  she  caused  to  be 
written  for  her,  under  the  name  of  Hyacinthe,  by  the 
gay  and  witty  poet,  the  Abbe  du  Perron,  who  became  a 
Cardinal. 


CHAPTER   XI 
Marguerite  and  Bussy  d'Amboise 

1574— 1575 

While  Henri  de  Navarre  remained  tightly  bound  in  the 
fillets  of  that  fair  sorceress  Madame  de  Sauve,  Marguerite, 
after  the  arrival  of  Henri  III.  from  Poland,  was  not  long 
in  seeking  for  new  distractions  to  help  her  to  banish  from 
her  memory  the  sad  recollections  connected  with  the 
melancholy  ending  of  her  love-affairs  with  La  Mole. 

This  crowned  Aspasia,  who  was  as  lively  and  spirituelle 
as  she  was  pretty,  contrived  to  make  the  hours  not  hang 
too  heavy  on  her  hands  while  in  the  company  of  either 
the  Seigneur  de  Saint-Luc  or  the  Due  de  Mayenne,  who 
was  the  brother  of,  that  early  object  of  her  affections,  the 
Due  de  Guise. 

The  heart  of  La  Mole  was,  we  may  imagine,  already 

safely  stowed  away  in  one  of  the  many  pockets  of  the 

famous  vertugadin  a  pochettes^  of  which  speaks  Tallemant 

des  R6aux.     "  In  each  of  these,"  he  says,  "  she  used  to 

put  a  box  in  which  was  the  heart  of  one  of  her  lovers 

who  had  died,  for  she  was  of  a  careful  turn  of  mind,  and 

as  soon  as   they  passed  away  caused  their  hearts  to  be 

embalmed.      This   vertugadin    (farthingale    or   crinoline) 

was    hung    up    every    night    from    a    hook,    which    was 

fastened  with  a  padlock  behind  the  head  of  her  bed." 

107 


io8  The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

With  M.  de  Mayenne  Marguerite  had  already  had 
the  commencement  of  a  love-affair  several  years  pre- 
viously. But,  according  to  du  Vair,  the  modesty  of  the 
brother  of  Henri  de  Guise  was  then  far  greater  than  her 
own,  with  the  result  that  the  Princess  was  so  much 
offended  that  she  published  this  modern  Joseph  every- 
where as  a  fool. 

In  later  days  neither  the  amourette  with  Saint-Luc 
nor  that  with  Mayenne  seem  to  have  been  affairs  in 
which  the  affections  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre  were 
deeply  concerned.  She  soon  withdrew  from  each  the 
small  share  of  her  heart  which  she  had  accorded  him,  to 
bestow  that  organ  in  its  entirety,  palpitating  as  though 
with  the  first  passion  of  maidenhood,  upon  the  invincible 
Louis  de  Clermont  d'Amboise,  Seigneur  de  Bussy. 

In  spite  of  all  the  skill  with  which  Marguerite  de 
Valois  has  contrived  to  conceal  her  love-affairs  in  the 
Memoirs  written  by  her  for  Brantome,  and  which  she 
calls  only  "  the  result  of  an  after-dinner's  work,"  there 
are  occasions  when  the  very  exaggeration  of  her  naivete 
compels  the  reader  to  pause  and  think.  At  times,  not- 
withstanding the  cleverness  of  the  shapely  hand  that 
held  the  pen,  the  truth  will  peep  through.  It  is,  for 
example,  quite  impossible  for  this  laughter-loving  Queen 
to  dissimulate  her  sentiments  entirely  when  she  deals 
with  the  boldest  blade  of  the  Court  of  the  Valois,  the 
hero  whom  three  hundred  men,  sent  by  Du  Guast, 
failed  to   conquer  upon  one  memorable  occasion. 

The  mention  she  makes  of  her  first  acquaintance  with 
Bussy  d'Amboise  gives  us  a  pretty  little  platonic  picture 
of  courtly  politeness,  rendered  to  the  Princess,  as  her 
due,  by  a  gallant  nobleman  of  the  suite  of  her  brother 
d'Alen9on — nothing    more    than   that,    no   hint   of    the 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  109 

ardent  lover.  And  yet  the  fair  chronicler  cannot  re- 
frain from  a  little  passing  comment  approbatory  of  the 
bravery  of  this  gay  spark,  who,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  Henri  IV.  as  given  in  the  Divorce  Satyrique^ 
was  so  very  much  too  much  to  his  fair  and  fickle  spouse. 

"  When  we  were  at  Paris,"  says  Marguerite,  "  my 
brother  drew  Bussy  to  his  service,  holding  him  in  as 
great  esteem  as  his  valour  merited.  They  were  con- 
tinually together,  and  in  consequence  with  me,  my 
brother  and  I  being  constantly  in  each  other's  company, 
and  he  having  ordered  his  attendants  to  honour  and  pay 
respect  to  me  as  much  as  to  himself.  All  the  honest 
gentlemen  of  his  suite  obeyed  this  agreeable  command 
with  so  much  obedience  that  they  showed  me  no  less 
attention  than   they  did  him." 

Du  Guast,  however,  whom  in  her  rage  Marguerite 
calls  "  a  pumpkin  {potiron)^'  was  not  by  any  means 
inclined  to  allow  his  fair  enemy  to  enjoy  her  pretty 
little  idyll  undisturbed.  A  spoil-sport,  as  usual,  he  told 
the  King  of  Navarre  that  his  wife  had  taken  Bussy  as  a 
lover. 

This  spiteful  mignon  received  but  little  satisfaction 
from  *'le  Bearnais,"  who  laughed  at  him,  joked  a  bit, 
and  pretended  not  to  believe  a  word  of  the  story. 

None  the  less,  in  the  Divorce  Satyrique^  which  Henri 
de  Navarre  is  supposed  to  have  edited  himself  when  he 
was  seeking  a  divorce  from  Marguerite,  he  admits,  and 
in  very  broad  terms,  that  what  Du  Guast  had  told  him 
was  nothing  but  the  truth. 

Having  failed  to  make  mischief  with  the  husband, 
Du  Guast  went  off  to  the  brother  with  more  success. 
Henri  III.  was  only  too  ready  to  listen  to  any  story 
calculated  to  discredit  Bussy,  since  he  already  nourished 

7 


no         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

rancour  against  him  in  his  heart  for  having  quitted  his 
personal  service  to  devote  himself  to  his  brother, 
d'Alen9on. 

Louis  de  Clermont,  we  may  mention,  was  not  only- 
brave  as  a  lion  but  most  blood-thirsty  by  nature.  He 
was  celebrated  as  having  been  one  of  the  foremost  in 
slaughtering  the  Huguenots  at  the  time  of  the  Massacre 
of  Saint-Bartholomew. 

Marguerite  triumphs  in  this  change  of  masters  on  the 
part  of  Bussy.  "  Acquisition,"  she  remarks,  "  which 
increased  as  much  the  glory  of  my  brother  as  the  envy 
of  our  enemies,  for  there  did  not  exist  at  that  time,  of 
his  sex  or  quality,  anything  similar  in  valour,  reputation, 
grace,  or  wit." 

Henri  III.  at  once  set  to  work  to  stir  up  the  Queen- 
Mother  against  Marguerite,  in  the  same  manner  as  he 
had  gone  to  her  with  the  story  about  Bid6  at  Lyon. 
Catherine,  however,  had  not  forgotten  the  way  in  which 
she  had  been  obliged  to  eat  her  words  upon  that  occasion, 
when  her  daughter  had  been  fortunately  able  to  prove 
her  innocence  by  an  alibi. 

She  was  not,  therefore,  inclined  to  run  the  risk  of 
making  herself  appear  a  fool  for  the  second  time. 
Catherine  de  Medicis  accordingly  made  excuses  for  the 
Queen  of  Navarre,  and  told  the  King  plainly  that  she 
saw  nothing  suspicious  in  her  conduct,  even  if  Bussy 
d'Amboise  was  sometimes  to  be  seen  paying  her  his  court 
in  her  chamber. 

It  may,  of  course,  have  suited  the  Queen-Mother's 
book  to  have  her  daughter  thus  hold  the  valiant  Bussy 
in  her  leash  ;  such  would  have  been  quite  in  accordance 
with  the  usual  crookedness  of  her  policy. 

Du  Guast  thus  having  his  nose   put   out    of  joint, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  m 

could  not  control  his  rage  and  thirst  for  vengeance.  He 
prepared  an  ambush  for  Bussy  d'Amboise,  sending  three 
hundred  men  of  the  Regiment  des  Sardes  which  he 
commanded  to  waylay  and  assassinate  him.  Ten  of  the 
King's  mignons  went  to  help  in  the  murder.  The 
combat  which  ensued  was  Homeric,  when  Bussy,  accom- 
panied by  only  a  few  of  his  friends,  was  attacked  in  the 
night-time  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  The  champion  him- 
self was  carrying  his  right  arm  in  a  sling,  a  pale  grey 
scarf  embroidered  by  Marguerite,  he  having  recently 
been  wounded  in  one  of  his  innumerable  duels.  Another 
gentleman,  a  friend  of  his,  likewise  had  his  right  arm 
supported  in  a  similar  sling,  although,  as  Marguerite 
tells  us  with  pride,  it  was  not  nearly  such  a  smart  one 
as  the  scarf  worn  by  her  lover.  Unfortunately  for  this 
gentleman,  after  the  party  of  Bussy  d'Amboise  had  been 
charged  furiously  and  the  torches  extinguished,  he  was 
mistaken  for  Bussy  himself,  and  fell  beneath  the  blows 
of  the  many  who  singled  him  out  for  slaughter. 

Another  gentleman,  badly  wounded  in  the  first  on- 
slaught, rushed,  all  bloody,  into  the  Louvre,  shouting  out 
that  Bussy  was  surrounded  and  being  murdered.  The 
whole  palace  was  in  a  state  of  wild  alarm,  and  the  Due 
d'Alengon,  forgetting  his  rank,  seized  his  sword  and 
was  about  to  rush  down  into  the  streets  to  join  in  the 
fight  and  assist  his  favourite.  The  Queen  of  Navarre, 
however,  threw  her  arms  around  Fran9ois,  while  the 
Queen-Mother,  coming  upon  the  scene,  pointed  out  to  her 
son  what  folly  it  would  be  to  go  out  thus  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  when  darkness  covered  all  kinds  of  crimes. 
She  added  that  the  whole  affair  might  be  a  trick  on 
the  part  of  Du  Guast  to  draw  the  Due  d'Alen^on 
into  the  fray  and  to  get    him  murdered.     As  a  further 


112         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

precaution,  Catherine  ordered  the  guards  on  the  doors 
not  to  allow  Fran9ois  to  leave  the  Louvre,  which  order 
settled  the  matter. 

Directly  afterwards  arrived  a  message  from  Bussy 
himself,  to  say  that  he  was  unharmed  and  had  gained  his 
lodging  in  safety.  On  the  following  morning  "  as  soon 
as  it  was  daylight,"  says  Marguerite,  "he  returned  to  the 
Louvre  with  as  gallant  and  gay  demeanour  as  if  this 
attack  upon  him  had  been  merely  a  little  passage  of  arms 
arranged  for  his  amusement." 

Catherine  de  Medicis,  fearing  that  the  frequent  attacks 
and  quarrels  fixed  upon  Bussy,  who  indeed  courted  them 
and  was  always  victorious,  would  bring  about  serious 
trouble  between  the  miserable  Henri  III.  and  Fran9ois, 
advised  this  latter  to  send  his  favourite  away  for  a 
time.  Marguerite  added,  her  entreaties  to  the  same  effect, 
in  her  solicitude  for  both  her  lover  and  her  brother, 
and  to  these  d'Alen9on  listened.  "  Accordingly,"  con- 
tinues the  Queen  of  Navarre,  "  Bussy,  who  had  no  will 
but  that  of  his  master,  took  his  departure,  attended  by 
the  most  gallant  of  the  nobles  of  my  brother's  retinue. 

"Le  Guast  was  thus  relieved  of  this  matter,  and, 
as  it  happened  that  the  King  my  husband  was  at  this 
time  seized  one  night  with  a  serious  weakness  during 
which  he  remained  in  a  faint  for  an  hour  (the  result, 
I  believe,  of  his  amorous  excesses),  during  which  I  assisted 
him  with  devotion  ...  he  treated  me  with  much  more 
kindness,  and  the  friendship  between  him  and  my  brother 
was  renewed."  It  now  seemed  as  if  the  troubles  between 
the  formerly  allied  trio,  of  Henri,  Fran9ois,  and  Mar- 
guerite, were  about  to  come  to  an  end  ;  but  alas  !  the 
vicious  Du  Guast  was  soon  again  to  the  fore,  and 
contrived    to    bring    about    a    breach,    which    was    not 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  113 

to  be  healed  for  several  years,  between  the  husband  and 
wife. 

Among  those  of  Marguerite's  maids  of  honour  whom 
Marguerite  loved  the  best  was  a  certain  young  lady 
named  Gillone  de  Thorigny,  the  daughter  of  the  Marechal 
Jacques  de  Matignon.  This  girl  was  the  confidante  of 
Marguerite,  and  Du  Guast  informed  Henri  III.  of  the 
fact  that  she  it  was  who  was  the  go-between  in  the 
matter  of  his  sister's  various  amours.  Here,  indeed,  felt 
the  mean-minded  King,  was  an  opportunity  of  at  least 
hurting  his  sister  in  her  tenderest  feelings.  He  would 
tell  his  brother-in-law,  the  King  of  Navarre,  to  order  his 
wife  to  get  rid  of  Thorigny.  As  for  reason,  it  would 
be  reason  enough  to  say  that  "  one  should  not  allow 
Princesses  to  have  girls  about  them  for  whom  they 
entertained  so  much  affection." 

Henri  de  Navarre  was  sent  for,  and  the  definite  order 
given,  when  the  King  of  Navarre  had  no  choice  but  to 
comply  with  the  King's  commands. 

Du  Guast  was,  it  must  be  admitted,  a  clever  fellow, 
and  a  redoubtable  foe  ;  one  who  could  see  only  too  easily 
the  weak  places  in  the  armour  of  his  adversary.  He  was 
personally  brave  and  a  good  swordsman,  and  we  must 
be  careful  not  to  allow  ourselves  to  be  too  much  pre- 
judiced against  him  by  the  ex  'parte  statements  of  the  by 
no  means  immaculate  Queen  of  Navarre.  He  had  ample 
means  of  learning  what  were  the  nature  of  those  services 
rendered  by  Mademoiselle  de  Thorigny,  that  made  her 
so  precious  to  her  mistress,  and  knew,  only  too  well, 
that  by  forcing  the  B6arnais  to  make  his  wife  get  rid 
of  the  girl  who  opened  the  doors  to  her  lovers  the  long- 
desired  breach  would  be  infallibly  procured.  This  time 
the  clever  adversary   of  Marguerite  came  out  on  top. 


114         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

The  French  have  a  saying,  '•'■  de  toutes  bonnes  choses^  trots! " 
Du  Guast's  first  two  bonnes  choses  had  proved  nothing  but 
missfires  ;  the  third,  however,  went  straight  to  the  mark. 

Marguerite  writhed  and  wriggled  under  the  order 
which  her  husband  gave  her — not,  we  can  well  imagine, 
without  a  certain  inward  satisfaction — to  get  rid  of  a  girl 
who  was  the  cause  of  constantly  making  him  look  a  fool 
in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  Court  by  introducing  dishonour 
into  his  household. 

Good-natured  as  he  was,  however,  it  was  much 
against  the  grain  that  Henri  complied  with  the  King's 
menacing  command,  for  his  wife  and  he  had,  after  all, 
been  associes  hitherto.  Marguerite  had  even  helped 
him  very  much  at  the  time  when,  before  the  death  of 
Charles  IX.,  he  and  d'AIen^on  had  been  prisoners  at 
Vincennes.  With  her  able  pen  she  had  drawn  up  for 
him  a  line  of  defence  of  which  he  had  made  use  with  the 
most  brilliant  success. 

She  had  also  been  quite  willing  to  endanger  her  own 
safety,  to  run  the  risk  of  encountering  the  full  fury  of  the 
Queen-Mother  at  that  time,  by  aiding  either  her  husband 
or  her  brother  to  escape  disguised  as  one  of  her  women. 
It  might  very  probably  have  been  this  very  Gillonne  de 
Thorigny  who  would  have  been  left  behind  in  the  prison, 
dressed  up  as  Henri  de  Navarre,  while  the  King  of 
Navarre  would  have  been  gaily  driving  off  with  his  wife 
in  her  chariot,  robed  in  the  petticoats  of  the  somewhat 
too  compliant  daughter  of  Jacques  de  Matignon. 

It  had  not  been  Marguerite's  fault  if  neither  her 
husband  nor  her  brother  had  escaped  upon  that  occasion. 
They  could  not  quite  agree  with  her  theory,  which  was 
that  if  only  one  of  them  were  at  liberty  he  would  be  able 
to  ensure  the  safety  of  the  other  left  behind.     Neither  of 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  H5 

them  had  wanted  to  be  the  one  left  behind,  and  therefore 
neither  of  them  consented  to  change  clothing  with  the 
sharp-witted  Gillonne,  the  up-to-date  maid  of  honour, 
who  now  was  to  be  roughly  flung  from  the  doors  of 
the  Louvre  that  she  knew  so  well  the  trick  of  opening 
and  shutting  at  any  hour  of  the  night. 

In  spite  of  his  kindly  feelings  towards  his  wife,  the 
repeated  order  of  the  King  left  the  Bearnais  no  choice. 
He  caused  his  wife  the  cruel  displeasure  of  ordering  her 
to  send  her  confidante  about  her  business,  and  that 
without  delay,  at  once  !  Imagine  the  surprise  of  the 
disconcerted  Marguerite,  who  had  doubtless  some  little 
plan  on  hand,  arranged  for  that  very  evening.  In  that 
plan  she  would  doubtless  have  been  expecting  that  her 
beloved  Thorigny  was,  as  usual,  to  assist  her,  when  she 
was  told,  suddenly  and  authoritatively,  that  before  night- 
fall she  must  have  said  farewell  to  her  for  ever. 

So  great,  she  tells  us,  was  her  just  resentment  *'  that 
I  could  no  longer  force  myself  to  seek  the  society  of 
the  King,  my  husband.  In  this  way,  what  with  Le  Guast 
and  Madame  de  Sauvre  estranging  him  from  me  on 
the  one  side,  and  I  keeping  myself  away  from  him  also, 
we  neither  slept  nor  spoke  any  more  together." 

The  vengeance  of  Henri  III.  upon  his  sister  did 
not  confine  itself  to  the  mere  expulsion  of  her  confidante. 
On  the  contrary,  the  King  and  his  mignon  Du  Guast  next 
arranged  to  murder  the  girl,  who  had  fled  to  the  chateau 
of  a  cousin  of  hers,  the  Seigneur  de  Chastelas. 

To  this  place  of  refuge  a  party  of  the  King's  troops 
came,  with  the  mission  of  taking  Gillonne  away  to  drown 
her  in  the  river  not  far  distant.  De  Chastelas,  receiving 
the  order  from  the  officer  commanding  these  troops  to 
deliver  up  his  cousin  to  him,   that  she  might  be  taken 


ii6         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

back  to  the  King,  was  too  wise  to  ofFer  any  objection, 
although  he  had  a  shrewd  suspicion,  speedily  confirmed, 
that  it  was  merely  to  hang  or  break  the  fair  neck  of 
Thorigny  that  the  custody  of  her  person  was  demanded. 

^'  Oh  !  certainly,"  he  replied,  temporising  ;  "take  the 
young  lady  back  to  the  King  by  all  means  ;  but  it  is  late, 
and  your  men  look  hungry,  and  especially  thirsty  ;  will 
not  you  and  they  do  me  the  honour  of  accepting  the  poor 
hospitality  of  my  roof  for  just  one  night  ?  " 

Yes,  they  were  all  hungry,  and  especially  thirsty,  and 
they  proved  it  so  well  that  not  only  did  the  soldiers 
drain  dry  the  cellars  of  de  Chastelas,  and  pillage  his  castle 
from  top  to  bottom,  but  they  likewise  slept  very  late 
on  the  following  morning.  As  it  happened,  some  of  the 
servants,  flying  from  the  chateau  early  that  morning,  fell 
in  with  a  party  of  two  hundred  horsemen  who  were  on 
their  way  to  join  the  army  which  the  Due  d'Alen^on  was, 
against  his  brother's  wishes,  raising  at  this  time  to  forward 
his  ambitious  scheme  for  making  himself  the  ruler  of  the 
Low  Countries,  then  occupied  by  Spanish  troops. 

The  commanders  of  this  force  were  brothers,  named 
La  Ferte  and  Avantigny,  both  Chamberlains  of  Franc^ois 
d'Alen9on.  As  good  luck  would  have  it.  La  Ferte 
recognised  one  of  the  servants.  "  Why,  what  is  the 
matter  with  my  good  friend  Chastelas  .'' "  he  inquired  ; 
"  and  what  has  happened  to  all  of  you,  that  you  are 
flying  in  such  terror  ? " 

"  Oh,  Monsieur  !  the  King's  troops  have  had  the 
unfortunate  Mademoiselle  de  Thorigny  locked  up  in 
a  room  all  night,  and  this  morning  they  are  going  to 
drown  her  in  the  river !  " 

'*  Are  they,  indeed  }  We  will  see  about  that  !  " 
Putting  spurs  to  their  horses,  the  brothers  arrived  with 


LOUIS    DE    BERANGER    DU    GUAST 
{From  a  sketch  in  the  Biblio'Mque  Nationale) 


"7 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre          1 1 9 

their  mounted  men  just  as  the  struggling  and  screaming 
Gillonne  was  being  tightly  bound  on  the  back  of  a 
horse,  to  be  led  away  to  be  drowned  by  the  still  half- 
drunken  emissaries  of  Du  Guast. 

Sword  in  hand,  and  shouting  "  Stop,  butchers  !  or 
you  are  all  dead  men  !  "  the  troops  of  d'Alen^on  charged, 
and  rescued  the  unhappy  girl  from  the  King's  soldiers, 
who  all  took  to  flight. 

Mademoiselle  de  Thorigny,  overcome  with  joy  at 
her  escape,  was  at  once  driven  off  by  these  good  fellows 
in  the  coach  of  Chastelas.  They  carried  her  to  the 
protection  of  Fran9ois,  who  had  a  few  days  previously 
quietly  walked  out  of  the  Louvre  in  disguise  and 
gained  the  town  of  Dreux,  which  formed  a  part  of  his 
appanage.  Here  the  Due  d'Alen9on  found  himself  in 
safety. 


CHAPTER   XII 

Henri  Escapes  from  Paris 

1576 

Prior  to  the  escape  of  Fran9ois  from  the  Louvre,  which 
took  place  on  September  15th,  1575,  he  and  his  brother- 
in-law  had  endeavoured  to  bury  the  hatchet  over  their 
dispute  concerning  the  too  seductive  Madame  de  Sauve, 
and  if  possible  to  get  away  together  from  the  Court. 
There  both  of  the  Princes  felt  continually  an  uncomfort- 
able creepy  feeling  at  the  back  of  the  neck,  such  as  to 
cause  them  at  times  to  raise  the  hand  with  the  object  of 
ascertaining  if  their  heads  were  still  upon  their  shoulders. 
It  was  so  evident  to  both  that  Du  Guast,  who  ruled 
the  King,  was  himself  the  real  Monarch,  so  evident  that 
he  hated  them  both  and  was  always  seeking  to  do  them 
an  ill  turn,  above  all  so  plainly  apparent  that  he  was  the 
cause  of  their  division,  that  the  two  Princes  determined 
that  there  would  be  no  safety  for  them  but  in  flight. 
Although,  in  order  to  avoid  possible  confusion  of 
names,  we  have  continued  to  call  Fran9ois  by  the  title 
of  d'Alen9on,  he  had  now  actually  succeeded  to  that  of 
Due  d'Anjou,  which  had  been  the  title  of  Henri  III. 
before  his  accession.  D'Alen9on  had  not,  however,  had 
his  condition  improved  in  proportion  to  his  position  as 
heir  to  the  throne.     He  was   still  treated  by  the   King 

120 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         121 

as  a  poor  younger  brother,  having  been  accorded  no 
increase  of  appanage  in  spite  of  his  increased  importance, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  Louise  de  Vaudemont  showed  no 
signs  of  producing  a  son  to  oust  him  from  the  direct  line 
of  succession  to  his  brother's  throne. 

This  young  Princess  belonged  to  a  junior  branch 
of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  and  Henri  III.  had  made  her 
acquaintance  upon  his  journey  to  Poland.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  he  was  then  daily  sending  back 
burning  epistles,  signed  with  his  blood,  to  his  mistress 
the  Princesse  de  Cond^,  Henri  had  been  very  much 
struck  by  the  dollish  beauty  of  Louise.  Accordingly, 
although  she  had  neither  the  position  nor  the  fortune 
suitable  in  the  wife  of  a  King  of  France,  he  had,  upon  his 
return  from  Poland,  married  her,  on  the  day  after  his 
coronation  at  Rheims.  In  spite  of  the  disgraceful  pro- 
fligacy of  her  husband,  and  the  fact  that  Catherine  de 
M6dicis  ever  contrived  to  kept  them  apart,  Louise  was 
always  faithful  to  Henri  III.,  while  leading  a  blameless 
and  obscure  existence. 

Immediately  previous  to  his  marriage  to  the  remarkably 
pretty  Louise  de  Vaudemont,  Henri  had  been  proclaiming 
himself  as  inconsolable  for  the  Princesse  de  Conde,  who 
died,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  at  the  Louvre  in  October 
1574.  As  a  public  demonstration  of  his  grief  for  another 
man's  wife,  the  new  King  appeared  everywhere  in  mourn- 
ing of  a  most  ghastly  description,  his  dress  being  of 
black,  covered  all  over  with  death's-heads.  This  affecta- 
tion had  not,  however,  prevented  this  despicable  Prince 
from  indulging  in  the  wildest  debauchery,  in  Venice  and 
Savoy,  during  the  four  months  which  separated  the  death 
of  the  Princesse  de  Conde  from  his  marriage  to  Louise 
de  Vaudemont. 


122         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

While  d'Alen^on  had  been  put  in  possession  of  no 
proper  appanage  suitable  to  his  increased  importance, 
Henri  de  Navarre  likewise  found  himself,  for  one  reason 
or  another,  totally  unable  to  procure  sufficient  funds 
wherewith  to  keep  up  his  proper  rank  and  style  at  the 
Court  of  France.  And  yet  that  he  should  have  had 
enough  and  to  spare  is  evident  from  the  long  list  of  his 
possessions,  which  were,  it  must  be  confessed,  quite  suffi- 
cient to  make  of  him  an  eligible  parti  in  the  eyes  of 
Marguerite  at  the  time  of  their  marriage. 

He  was  not  only  King  of  all  that  remained  of  the 
ancient  Kingdom  of  Navarre,  now  restricted  to  territory 
on  the  French  side  of  the  Pyrenees,  but,  as  the  head  of 
the  House  of  Bourbon,  Henri  owned  large  domains  from 
the  Pyrenees  to  far  beyond  the  Garonne.  He  possessed 
the  Principality  of  B6arn,  the  Duchies  of  Vend6me, 
Albret,  and  Beaumont,  the  Counties  of  Armagnac, 
Bigorre,  and  Rouergue,  likewise  of  Perigord  and  Marie. 
In  addition  to  these,  the  King  of  Navarre  owned  the 
Viscounties  of  Marsac  and  Limoges,  and  the  Baronies  of 
half  a  dozen  places  into  the  bargain. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  string  of  possessions,  Henri 
de  Navarre  agreed  with  Fran9ois  dAlen9on  that  they 
were  both  very  hardly  treated  young  men,  and  that  the 
King  ought  to  endow  them  both  with  something  worth 
having,  befitting  to  their  rank.  Above  all  things,  the 
King  should  see  that  their  dues  and  allowances  were 
regularly  paid. 

Since,  however,  Henri  III.  did  not  seem  inclined  to  do 
anything  of  the  sort,  they  agreed  that  they  had  better 
turn  their  backs  once  and  for  all  on  his  beggarly  Court, 
where  all  seemed  to  belong  to  Du  Guast,  and  carve  their 
fortunes    for    themselves    elsewhere,    sword    in     hand. 


and  of  Marguerite  dc  Valois  123 

D*Alen9on  had  his  course  shaped  out  in  his  mind  already. 
It  was  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  discontented 
Politique  party,  and  eventually  marry  Elizabeth  of  England, 
and  become  the  independent  ruler  of  Flanders. 

Henri  proposed,  first,  to  take  possession  of  his  Kingdom 
of  Navarre  and  Government  of  Guyenne,  and  then  to 
place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Huguenots.  Above  all, 
the  King  of  Navarre  wished  to  take  possession  of  his 
government  of  the  great  province  of  Guyenne,  but  up 
to  the  present  he  had  not,  since  his  first  arrival  in  Paris 
and  his  marriage,  been  permitted  to  visit  any  of  his 
estates,  and  much  less  to  assume  any  independent  position 
of  authority. 

This  resolution  being  taken,  on  account  of  the  common 
safety,  Alen9on  pointed  out  that,  for  their  mutual  welfare's 
sake,  the  friendship  of  Marguerite  ought  to  be  regained 
by  his  brother-in-law.  He  went  accordingly  to  his  sister, 
in  the  part  of  a  peacemaker,  and  told  her  that  he  would 
like  to  see  her  and  her  husband  on  friendly  terms  once 
more.  At  the  same  time  Francois  assured  Marguerite  that 
the  King  of  Navarre  had  expressed  to  him  the  greatest 
regret  for  what  had  taken  place,  and  said  that  he  was 
perfectly  well  aware  that  the  misunderstanding  had  been 
brought  about  by  their  common  enemies,  but  that  he  was 
resolved  to  love  his  wife  in  future  and  to  give  her  more 
cause  to  be  contented  with  him.  D'Alen9on  further 
begged  his  sister  to  love  the  King  of  Navarre  and  to  look 
after  his  affairs  during  his  absence. 

It  was  arranged  that  Francois  should  go  first  and  that 
Henri  should  follow  a  few  days  later,  upon  pretence  of  a 
hunting-party.  The  Due  d'Alen^on,  as  we  have  said,  got 
clear  away  from  the  Louvre  one  night  and  joined  several 
hundreds   of    his    partisans    who    were    expecting    him. 


124         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

When  Henri  III.  became  convinced  that  he  was  actually- 
gone  his  fury  knew  no  bounds,  and  he  ordered  some  of 
the  nobles  of  the  Court  to  pursue  his  brother  and  bring 
him  back,  dead  or  alive.  This,  however,  some  declined 
to  do,  while  others  made  a  pretence  of  following 
Fran9ois. 

After  this  successful  evasion  by  Francois,  Henri  de 
Navarre  found  himself  more  than  ever  slighted  by  the 
King,  while  his  wife,  upset  by  the  emotion  consequent 
upon  the  disturbance  caused  by  her  brother's  escape, 
became  ill  with  a  bad  feverish  cold  and  neuralgia  in  the 
face.  This  was  accompanied  with  a  kind  of  erysipelas. 
These  complaints  appear  to  have  confined  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  to  her  rooms  for  some  time,  during  which  Henri 
neglected  her  shamefully.  Keeping  up  more  than  ever 
his  appearance  of  insouciance  and  frivolity,  partly  no 
doubt  the  better  to  conceal  his  designs,  he  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  Madame  de  Sauve.  Marguerite  says 
that  he  was  afraid  of  wasting  the  last  precious  moments 
that  he  had  to  pass  at  his  charmer's  feet,  and  never 
came  to  bed,  in  consequence,  until  one  or  two  in  the 
morning.  His  wife,  being  then  asleep  in  a  separate  bed, 
declares  that  she  never  heard  him  come.  In  the  morning 
Henri  was  up  again  early,  so  as  to  be  present  with  the 
object  of  his  adoration  at  the  rising  of  the  Queen- 
Mother. 

By  this  conduct  Henri  certainly  deceived  the  King, 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  and  the  whole  Court ;  no  one 
ever  imagined  that  he  could  dream  of  tearing  himself 
away  from  the  siren  who  had  bewitched  him,  and  whom, 
in  the  absence  of  d'Alen9on,  he  now  had  all  to  himself. 
He  even  deceived  his  own  intimate  followers,  Agrippa 
d'Aubign6  and  Armagnac,  who  were  the  only  two  of  the 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  125 

gentlemen  of  his  own  party  who  had  been  left  to  him. 
These  faithful  adherents  could,  however,  see  no  signs 
of  any  deep-laid  scheme  of  policy,  as  Henri  hung  on  week 
after  week  at  the  Court,  even  after  d'Alengon  had  taken 
command  of  the  Politique  and  Huguenot  forces  combined. 
To  them  the  conduct  of  Henri  de  Navarre  appeared 
not  only  that  of  a  profligate,  but  mean-spirited  in  the 
extreme  ;  the  more  so  since  he  then  was  constantly  a 
suppliant  for  the  great  post  of  Lieutenant-General  of  the 
Kingdom,  which  was  being  dangled  before  his  face  by 
the  Queen-Mother  and  the  King,  without  the  slightest 
intention  of  ever  giving  it  to  him. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  King  of  Navarre  was  openly 
despised  at  this  time  at  the  Court,  where  the  Due  de 
Guise,  as  well  as  Du  Guast  and  the  other  mignons^  were 
in  the  habit  of  insulting  him  outrageously  in  the  tennis- 
court.  Henri  de  Navarre  himself  eventually  realised 
the  despicable  position  in  which  he  was  placed,  while 
d'Aubign^  and  Armagnac  could  stand  the  situation  no 
longer. 

Their  master  at  length  gave  these  two  gentlemen  an 
opportunity  of  speaking  out  their  minds  to  him,  which 
was  not  by  any  means  neglected,  they  plainly  threatening 
to  abandon  him  to  his  fate  unless  he  ceased  to  abandon 
himself  as  he  was  doing. 

This  was  when,  one  night,  they  heard  the  now  twenty- 
two-year-old  Prince  lamenting  himself  in  his  bed,  re- 
peating aloud  the  words  of  Psalm  Ixxxviii.  :  "  Thou  hast 
put  mine  acquaintance  far  from  me,  and  made  me  to  be 
abhorred  of  them.  I  am  so  fast  in  prison  that  I  cannot 
get  forth." 

Agrippa  d'Aubigne  then  said  :  "  Is  it  true  then,  Sire, 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  still  abides  and  works  in  you  ? 


126         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

You  sigh  to  Him  for  the  absence  of  your  friends  and 
faithful  servitors,  while  they  are  met  together  sighing  for 
your  absence  and  working  for  your  deliverance.  But 
you  have  only  tears  in  the  eyes,  while  they  have  arms 
in  hand  ;  they  combat  your  enemies,  while  you  serve 
them  ;  they  fiU  them  with  veritable  fears,  while  you  pay 
your  court  to  them  from  false  hopes  ;  they  only  fear 
God,  but  you  a  woman,  before  whom  you  join  your 
hands,  while  they  have  the  fist  clenched  ;  they  are  on 
horseback,  you  on  your  knees.  Behold  Monsieur 
[d'Alen9on]  now  the  head  of  those  who  watched  your 
cradle,  and  who  do  not  take  great  pleasure  in  serving 
under  him  who  has  his  altars  the  opposite  way  of  the 
grain  to  yours.  What  giddiness  of  spirit  has  made  you 
choose  to  be  a  valet  here  instead  of  a  master  there  ;  the 
scorn  of  the  despised  when  you  should  be  the  first  of  all 
those  to  be  feared  ?  " 

This  exordium  on  the  part  of  the  worthy  d'Aubignd 
— the  historian  and  poet — was  sufficient  to  make  the 
B^arnais  determined  to  escape  at  once,  if  possible,  from 
his  disgraceful  position.  A  plot  was  formed  to  escape 
while  hunting  in  the  forest  of  Senlis,  eight  or  ten 
gentlemen  being  in  the  plot,  one  of  the  most  devoted 
of  whom  was  apparently  Fervacques,  in  whose  rooms 
the  conspirators  assembled. 

No  sooner,  however,  had  the  King  of  Navarre,  after 
making  a  great  show  of  cheerily  begging  the  Due  de 
Guise  to  go  off  hunting  with  him,  repaired  to  Senlis 
than  this  very  Fervacques  was  seen  and  overheard  by  the 
watchful  d'Aubigne  revealing  the  plot  to  the  King. 
Henri  had,  however,  taken  in  the  whole  of  the  Court 
on  the  previous  day,  by  his  assumed  bonhomie^  when  all 
booted  and  spurred  before  his  departure.     He  had  like- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  127 

wise  made  a  great  show  of  begging  once  more  for  the  so 
greatly  coveted  post  of  Lieutenant-General,  and  of  pre- 
tending to  feel  confident  that  the  King  was  just  about 
to  bestow  it  upon  him. 

The  Due  de  Guise  and  the  Queen-Mother  were 
chuckling  together  to  think  how  completely  he  was  being 
duped,  with  the  result  that,  although  orders  had  been 
about  to  be  given  to  withdraw  permission  for  the  hunting- 
party  at  Senlis,  the  supposed  dupe  had  been  allowed  to 
go,  as  not  being  worth  retaining,  so  certain  was  he  to 
return. 

No  sooner  had  Fervacques  played  the  traitor  than 
the  fat  was  in  the  fire.  Quick,  however,  as  was  the 
King  to  have  the  gates  of  the  city  closed,  d'Aubigne, 
with  a  friend,  a  young  noble  named  Roquelaure,  were 
before  him,  out  of  Paris,  and  galloping  for  dear  life  to 
rejoin  the  King  of  Navarre.  They  were  far  ahead  of 
the  King's  equerries,  sent  off  likewise  upon  the  road 
to  Senlis,  to  watch  it.  Henri  they  found,  accompanied 
by  two  gentlemen,  who  had  been  sent  with  him  to  watch 
him,  named  Saint-Martin  and  Spalungue,  the  latter  being 
a  young  lieutenant  in  the  Guards.  These  two  spies,  after 
meeting  Henri  and  telling  him  the  news,  his  friends 
wished  to  kill.  The  King  of  Navarre  was,  however, 
too  crafty  to  commit  such  an  error  ;  he  very  cunningly 
got  rid  of  both  his  jailors  without  any  crime. 

After  pretending  to  instal  himself  in  lodgings  in  the 
faubourgs  of  Senlis,  and  making  arrangements  to  hear 
a  party  of  travelling  comedians  that  night,  he  first 
contrived  to  send  off  Saint-Martin,  and  then  Spalungue, 
with  absurd  and  deceitful  messages  to  the  King.  He 
offered  to  return  at  once  in  case  the  King  should  be 
suspecting  him,  owing  to  the  reports  of  his  enemies  ;  also 

8 


128         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

sent  greetings,  wishing  him  good  morning,  the  best  of 
health,  and  nonsense  of  that  description.  Saint-Martin 
reached  the  King  as  he  was  rising,  and  quite  took  him  in 
from  the  report  he  gave  of  the  King  of  Navarre's  move- 
ments and  intentions.  Spalungue,  who  had  lost  himself 
on  the  way,  only  arrived  late  on  the  following  afternoon 
— which  was  that  of  a  dark  day  in  February  1576.  By 
this  time  the  cautious  Catherine  de  Medicis  declared  that 
it  was  necessary  to  send  off  troops  to  watch  the  various 
roads  by  which  the  King  of  Navarre  could  escape  from 
Senlis.  This  clever  woman  it  was,  however,  who  had 
been  duped  for  once,  and  effectually  so,  by  *'  le  Bearnais," 
whom  she  so  despised. 

Her  son-in-law,  the  husband  of  Marguerite,  was  not 
the  fool  she  took  him  for.  He  had  had  twenty-four  hours' 
start  of  the  troops,  and  was  very  many  miles  away  when 
they  arrived  in  order  to  surround  the  roads  from  Senlis. 
Throughout  the  course  of  a  bitterly  cold  and  dark  night 
Henri  and  his  companions  travelled  through  wild  forest 
roadways.  They  crossed  the  river  Oise,  and  likewise  the 
river  Seine,  by  a  ferry  a  league  from  the  town  of  Poissy 
at  dawn,  whence  they  made  their  way  through  a  country 
full  of  soldiers  to  Chiteauneuf,  and  thence  on  to  the 
towns  of  Alen9on  and  Saumur. 

The  Memoires  and  the  Histoire  Universelle  of  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne  are  inexhaustible  mines  wherein  to  delve  for 
the  varied  events  of  this  portion  of  the  career  of 
Henri  IV.,  nor  are  they  devoid  of  amusing  incidents, 
some  of  which,  however,  are  rather  too  broad  for  repe- 
tition. One,  however,  detailed  in  the  Mimoires,  relates 
to  the  journey  of  the  little  party  of  fugitives  during  the 
morning  after  the  flight  from  Senlis. 

Then  a  country  gentleman,  perceiving  the  small  band 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  129 

of  armed  men  approaching  the  village  of  which  he  was 
the  proprietor,  rode  out  to  beg  them  to  avoid  it.  For,  in 
those  days,  armed  men  were  in  the  habit  only  too  often 
of  treating  country  hamlets  as  places  in  which  they  could 
help  themselves  to  all  that  they  required  without  payment 
— the  chateau  and  the  cottage  alike  faring  badly.  This 
gentleman  selected  Roquelaure  as  the  captain  of  the  troop, 
owing  to  his  being  more  richly  dressed  than  the  others, 
and,  naturally,  it  was  not  thought  necessary  to  undeceive 
him.  Merely  in  order  to  keep  this  country  noble  with 
them,  lest  he  should  give  information,  Roquelaure 
granted  him  his  village,  upon  the  condition  that  he 
should  guide  his  company  as  far  as  Chateauneuf. 

Upon  the  journey  he  chattered  away  gaily  with  the 
jovial  young  King  of  Navarre,  telling  him  merry 
scandals  of  the  Court,  and  especially  of  the  gallantries  of 
the  Princesses,  in  which  he  particularly  did  not  spare 
those  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre.  On  arrival  at  nightfall 
at  the  gates  of  Chateauneuf,  the  Sieur  de  Frontenac  called 
out  to  the  captain  I'Espine,  who  appeared  on  the  walls, 
'*  Open  to  your  master  !  " 

The  gentleman,  who  knew  to  whom  Chateauneuf 
belonged,  was  seized  with  a  terrible  fright,  and  Aubign^ 
made  him  take  himself  off  by  a  side-road,  in  order  to 
escape  and  not  be  able  to  return  to  his  home  for  several 
days. 

After  the  B^arnais  had  crossed  the  River  Loire  at 
Saumur,  he  at  length  considered  himself  in  safety. 
"May  God  be  praised  !  "  he  exclaimed  with  a  deep  sigh, 
"  for  delivering  me.  They  caused  my  mother's  death  at 
Paris,  they  killed  the  Admiral  and  all  our  best  adherents 
there,  and  they  had  not  any  intention  of  treating  me  any 
better  but  for  God's   protection.     Never,  unless    I    am 


ijo         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

dragged  there,  will  I  return."  Then,  jeering  according 
to  his  usual  custom,  the  King  of  Navarre  added,  "  I  only 
regret  two  things  which  I  have  left  behind  me  at  Paris — 
the  Mass  and  my  wife.  As  for  the  Mass,  however,  I 
will  try  and  do  without  it  ;  but  as  for  my  wife,  I  cannot 
have  her  back,  but  should  like  to." 

In  the  meantime  his  said  wife  was  having  but  a  poor 
time  of  it  in  Paris,  where  the  King  made  his  sister  pay 
for  the  various  escapes  which  had  taken  place.  It  was 
in  vain  for  Marguerite  to  declare,  as  she  does  in  her 
Memoirs,  when  speaking  of  her  husband's  escape  and 
with  reference  to  his  being  constantly  in  the  company  of 
"  la  Sauve  "  :  "  In  this  manner  he  forgot  to  talk  to  me  as 
he  had  promised  my  brother,  and  even  went  off  at  last 
without  bidding  me  farewell." 

Neither  the  Queen-Mother  nor  Henri  III.  would 
believe  that  the  young  Queen  of  Navarre  was  not  in  the 
confidence  of  both  her  brother  and  her  husband  in  the 
matter  of  their  respective  escapes,  and  all  her  brother's 
wrath  fell  upon  her.  So  furious  was  Henri  III.  at  the 
fact  of  the  Protestant  King  of  Navarre  having  broken 
his  bonds,  after  practically  having  endured  three  and  a 
half  years'  imprisonment  at  the  Court,  that,  in  his  rage, 
he  would  probably  have  taken  his  sister's  life  had  not 
Catherine  de  M^dicis  intervened. 

Marguerite  was,  however,  put  under  close  arrest  in 
her  apartments  in  the  Louvre,  while  guards  were  put 
over  her  doors,  to  prevent  her  from  escaping  to  join  her 
husband  and  writing  to  or  receiving  letters  from  him. 

For  when  this  unlucky  Princess  declared  to  her 
mother  that  Henri  had  left  without  even  bidding  her 
adieu,  Catherine  replied,  with  considerable  knowledge  of 
human  nature  :  "  That  is  all  nothing  but  a  little  quarrel 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  131 

between  husband  and  wife  ;  but  we  know  very  well  that 
with  a  few  sweet  letters  he  will  regain  your  heart,  and 
that,  if  he  sends  for  you,  you  will  go  and  join  him,  which 
is  what  the  King  my  son  will  not  have." 

So  Marguerite  was  locked  up  for  a  long  time,  and  it 
was  while  she  was  thus  in  durance  vile  that  Du  Guast 
instigated  the  King  to  order  the  death  by  drowning  of 
his  sister's  favourite,  Gillonne  de  Thorigny,  who  escaped 
as  we  have  related. 

During  her  confinement  no  one  at  the  Court  visited 
her  with  the  exception  of  Crillon.  He  was  a  brave 
young  noble,  a  Knight  of  Malta  whose  full  names  were 
Louis  de  Berton  des  Balbes  de  Crillon,  who  held  sub- 
sequently the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel-General  of  the 
French  Infantry,  and  who  became  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  captains  of  Henri  IV.  Crillon  was  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  Bussy  d'Amboise,  with  whom  he  had 
formerly,  however,  fought  a  duel,  so  no  doubt  it  was 
solely  to  talk  of  her  absent  gallant  that  this  brave  fellow, 
when  all  else  neglected  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  forced  his 
way  into  her  prison. 

We  are  told  that  "he  went  five  or  six  times  to 
visit  her,  so  astonishing  those  who  guarded  the  door 
that  they  never  dared  to  say  nay  nor  to  refuse  him  the 
passage." 

Meanwhile  Henri  III.,  baulked  of  his  desire  to 
strangle  his  sister  or  drown  her  lady  of  honour 
Thorigny,  determined  to  hang  Fervacques,  whom  he 
characterised,  and  rightly,  as  being  a  double  traitor. 
Crillon,  however,  warned  Fervacques,  who  fled  to  join 
the  King  of  Navarre,  whom  he  had  betrayed.  Appar- 
ently he  gave  some  excuse,  such  as  that  of  compulsion, 
to   the    Bearnais,   who   forgave   him   and    received    him 


132         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

although   not   without    having    to    listen   to   the   remon- 
strances of  the  faithful  d'Aubigne  for  his  compliance. 

Catherine  de  Medicis  was  now  sent  off  as  a  suppliant 
to  beg  her  son  dAlen^on  to  return  and  place  himself 
once  more  under  his  brother's  tender  care  at  Paris. 
The  King  was  almost  without  money  and  without  troops, 
while  Cond6,  having  made  a  treaty  with  the  Elector 
Palatine,  was  about  to  enter  France  with  German  troops 
under  his  son,  the  Duke  John  Casimir,  and  to  join 
d'Alen9on.  The  German  Protestant  troops  had  soon 
combined  with  those  under  Francois,  and  several  large 
cities  of  Bourbonnais  were  taken  and  ransomed  for  great 
sums  of  money.  Before  Catherine  de  Medicis  contrived 
to  procure  an  interview  with  her  son,  who  avoided  her, 
the  King  of  Navarre  was  likewise  in  arms  elsewhere  ; 
altogether  fifty  thousand  men,  Protestants  or  Politiques, 
being  in  rebellion  under  the  three  Princes. 

Marguerite  would  have  accompanied  the  Queen- 
Mother  in  her  mission  to  the  Due  d'Alen9on  had 
Catherine  but  been  listened  to  by  the  King,  who,  however, 
refused  to  loose  his  sister  from  her  prison. 

The  result  was  that  Catherine's  mission  was  a  failure, 
as  d'Alen9on  refused  to  treat  for  terms  of  peace  unless 
Marguerite  were  set  at  liberty.  Catherine  had  to  return 
to  Paris  accordingly  and  fetch  her  daughter,  to  whom, 
in  his  anxiety  for  peace,  Henri  III.  made  the  most 
abject  apologies  for  his  conduct  ;  but  Fran9ois  now  re- 
fused to  hear  of  any  proposals  unless  the  Mar^chaux 
de  Montmorency  and  Brissac-Cosse  were  released  from 
the  Bastille,  where  it  was  said  that  Catherine  had  made 
preparations  to  have  them  both  poisoned.  These  two 
Marshals  of  France  were  accordingly  released. 

Peace  was  now  made  on  the  most  favourable  terms 


JL^ 

^^^^^(^*r'y::  ■  ^ 

,     ■;  >t-' 

HENRI     III.,      KING     OF     FRANCE 
Third  Son  of  Catherine  de  Medicis 


133 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  135 

to  the  Protestants  and  the  Politiques.  It  was  called  the 
"  Peace  of  Monsieur,"  and  signed  at  Loches  in  April 
1576.  Fran9ois  had  his  appanage  increased  threefold, 
he  became  definitely  Due  d'Anjou,  and  was  granted  an 
extra  100,000  gold  crowns  yearly.  The  King  of  Navarre 
and  the  Prince  de  Conde  were  likewise  confirmed  in 
all  their  charges  and  offices  by  this  peace. 


CHAPTER   XIII 
Violent  Death  of  Du  Guast  and  Bussy 

In  spite  of  the  guards  who  for  several  months  had 
confined  Marguerite  to  her  apartments,  she  had  con- 
trived not  only  to  receive  letters  from  her  husband  but 
to  keep  up  a  friendly  correspondence  with  him,  although 
he  was  in  arms  against  her  brother  the  King.  Catherine, 
therefore,  had  proved  to  be  right,  and  it  had  been 
nothing  but  a  little  quarrel  between  husband  and  wife, 
after  all.  Once  Henri  de  Navarre  was  away  from  his 
evil  genius,  Madame  de  Sauve,  his  old  feeling  of  com- 
radeship with  Marguerite  returned,  he  wrote  to  her 
affectionately,  while  she,  in  return,  contrived  to  send  him 
the  news  of  everything  that  was  taking  place  at  the 
Court. 

Not  many  months  after  Catherine  and  her  Flying 
Squadron  of  beautiful  girls  had  accompanied  Marguerite 
to  the  camp  of  Fran9ois,  and,  owing  to  the  intervention 
of  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  a  peace  had  been  concluded 
so  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  Huguenots,  all  for  a 
time  was  peace  and  amity  at  the  Court.  This  was  as- 
sembled at  that  most  delightful  Royal  residence  of 
Chenonceaux,  on  the  river  Cher  in  the  province  of 
Touraine,   which    had    been    wrested    from    Diane    de 

136 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         137 

Poitiers,  the  mistress  of  Henri  II.,  by  Catherine  de 
M6dicis  on  her  husband's  death.  D'Alen9on  was  now 
apparently  on  excellent  terms  with  his  brother,  and  Bussy 
also  in  favour.  This  beautiful  chateau  stood  on  an 
island,  being  connected  with  each  bank  by  elegant  bridges, 
and  here  Catherine  celebrated  the  investiture  of  d' Alen9on 
with  the  three  Duchies  of  Anjou,  Touraine,  and  Berry 
by  a  series  of  fetes  of  a  most  extravagant  description. 
During  these  the  Queen-Mother's  young  ladies  served 
at  table  in  a  half-naked  condition. 

War  had,  however,  broken  out  again  almost  imme- 
diately between  the  King  of  France  and  the  King  of 
Navarre.  This  latter  had  demanded  his  wife  back  from 
his  brother-in-law,  but  Henri  III.,  saying  that  he  had 
given  his  sister  '*  to  a  Catholic,  and  not  to  a  Protestant," 
as  the  B6arnais  had  again  become,  had  roughly  refused 
to  send  her  to  him.  Henri  de  Navarre,  however,  con- 
trived to  obtain  possession  of  his  seventeen-year-old 
sister,  Catherine  de  Bourbon,  who  had  been  detained 
at  the  Court ;  and  this  most  amiable  young  Princess 
had,  like  her  brother,  abjured  the  Catholic  religion  upon 
joining  him.  In  this  new  war  which  had  broken  out 
d'Alen9on,  won  over  by  his  brother's  caresses  and  the 
advantages  he  found  to  accrue  to  him  by  being  well 
treated  at  Court,  most  meanly  deserted  the  Pro- 
testant cause,  and  even  took  command  against  those 
with  whom  he  had  previously  been  upon  such  friendly 
terms. 

Previous  to  this,  however,  Marguerite,  while  enjoying 
herself  to  the  utmost  at  Court  with  her  lover,  Bussy 
d'Amboise,  had  thought  fit  to  make  a  great  show  of 
wishing  to  return  to  her  husband,  now  in  his  Kingdom 
of  Navarre.     She  even  menaced  to  rejoin  her  husband, 


138         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

"  no  matter  by  what  means,  even  if  it  was  at  the  peril 
of  her  life."  Needless  to  say,  her  propositions  were  not 
listened  to  by  either  the  King  or  the  Queen-Mother. 
The  husband  and  wife,  having  thus  both  satisfied  les 
convenances^  by  openly  expressing  the  wish  to  fly  to 
each  other's  arms,  were  as  usual  enjoying  themselves  with 
their  love-afl^airs  while  living  apart. 

Marguerite  was  now  the  better  able  to  follow  her 
own  sweet  will  as  to  the  manner  in  which  she  chose  to 
conduct  herself,  owing  to  the  fact  that  she  had  recently 
contrived  to  get  rid  of  her  enemy,  Du  Guast,  by  means 
of  his  assassination. 

This  mignon  of  the  King  had  been  slaughtered  in  his 
bed  one  night  by  several  armed  men,  at  the  head  of 
whom  was  Guillaume  du  Prat,  Baron  de  Viteaux. 

According  to  the  historians  M^zeray,  de  Thou,  and 
Varillas,  followed  by  Michelet,  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
visited  this  gentleman  in  the  convent  of  the  Augustins, 
where  he  was  in  hiding,  and  paid  him  in  advance  with 
her  favours  for  the  dastardly  deed  which  she  wished  him 
to  perform,  and  in  this  way  became  assured  of  her 
vengeance  upon  her  deadly  enemy,  who  had  recently 
openly  stigmatised  her  as  "  the  Queen  of  the  courtesans.'* 

The  Baron  de  Viteaux  had,  in  a  fair  duel,  killed 
Al^gre,  one  of  the  mignons  of  Henri  III.,  and  all  of  the 
Court  sought  to  obtain  his  pardon  with  the  sole  ex- 
ception of  Du  Guast,  who  persuaded  the  King  to  refuse 
it.  Guillaume  du  Prat  had,  however,  returned  in  secret 
to  Paris,  and  hidden  himself  in  a  convent,  and  here 
Marguerite  came  to  visit  him  by  night.  She  recalled  to 
him  all  the  injuries  he  had  received  at  Du  Guast's  hands, 
she  told  him  of  her  own,  those  of  Bussy  d'Amboise,  and 
of  her  brother,  d'Alen^or.     And,  with  tears  in  her  eyes, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  139 

she  called  upon  him  to  avenge  himself  and  her  at  the 
same  time.  How  could  the  young  Baron  de  Viteaux 
refuse  a  beautiful  young  Queen  in  tears,  especially  when 
she  offered  him  in  advance  the  recompense  of  all  her 
loveliness  ? 

The  pact  was  easily  arranged  then  and  there  between 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  and  Guillaume  du  Prat,  and  the 
former  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  her  vengeance. 
Although  Du  Guast  usually  surrounded  himself  with  an 
escort  of  gentlemen,  as  he  was  carrying  on  an  intrigue 
with  a  lady  of  the  Court,  he  had  close  to  the  Louvre  a 
house  next  door  to  that  of  his  fair  mistress,  a  secret 
door  made  in  the  dividing  wall  enabling  them  to  visit 
each  other  at  will.  To  see  this  lady  in  the  greater 
secrecy,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  sending  away  all  his 
friends,  retaining  merely  a  few  valets  de  chambre  in  his 
dwelling. 

One  night,  in  the  winter  of  1575,  the  Baron  de 
Viteaux,  with  several  associates,  choosing  the  moment 
when  Du  Guast's  friends  had  just  left  him,  mounted  to 
his  apartments,  after,  it  would  seem,  first  killing  a  couple 
of  his  servants  below.  The  assassin  left  a  man  or  two 
to  guard  the  door  of  the  antechamber,  and,  entering 
Du  Guast's  room,  found  him  reading  in  bed.  Du  Guast 
had  himself  boasted  how  he  had  found  and  killed  many 
Huguenots  in  bed  at  the  time  of  the  Saint-Bartholomew 
massacre.  He  was  now  to  experience  a  similar  fate 
himself. 

Running  him  through  with  his  sword,  the  Baron  du 
Viteaux  hurriedly  retired,  and,  as  he  left  the  bedroom,  he 
met  the  lady  whose  favours  Du  Guast  enjoyed  coming 
in  through  the  secret  door.  The  avenger  of  Marguerite 
de  Valois  then  had  the  cruelty  to  wipe  his  bloody  weapon 


I40         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

upon  the  apron  of  this  young  lady.  He  then  made 
good  his  escape  from  Paris,  lowering  himself  over  the 
city  wall  by  a  rope,  and  finding  horses  waiting  all  ready 
to  take  him  to  join  the  army  of  d'Alen9on,  who  was 
evidently  in  the  secret  of  the  proposed  murder. 

Du  Viteaux  had  not  killed  his  victim,  however,  out- 
right, as  Du  Guast  lived  long  enough  to  say  that  he 
thought  he  had  recognised  his  assassin,  who,  however, 
was  never  punished  for  his  crime.  There  would  be  a 
good  reason  for  the  King  not  attempting  to  punish  the 
assassin  of  a  man  who  had  so  openly  insulted  the  Due 
d'Alengon  as  to  cut  him,  and  refuse  to  salute  him  in  the 
street.  Before  the  "  Paix  de  Monsieur "  neither  the 
Baron  du  Viteaux  nor  his  protector  could  be  reached  by 
the  King,  while  after  that  peace  Fran9ois  had,  for  the 
time  being  at  all  events,  become  too  strong  to  be 
molested. 

The  way  in  which  Marguerite  triumphs  in  her 
Memoirs  over  the  death  of  her  enemy  is  worth  recording, 
so  full  are  her  words  of  the  venom  and  hatred  that  filled 
her  against  Du  Guast : 

"  The  King  received  him  [d'Alen9on]  with  honour, 
and  Bussy  likewise,  who  arrived  in  my  brother's  suite,  for 
Le  Guast  was  by  this  time  dead,  having  been  killed  by  a 
judgment  of  God  as  he  was  following  a  cure,  his  body 
being  rotten  with  every  kind  of  abomination,  and  given 
over  to  the  corruption  which  had  long  since  pursued  it, 
and  his  soul  to  the  devils  to  whom  he  had  done  homage 
by  magic  and  all  conceivable  sorts  of  wickedness.  This 
instrument  of  hatred  and  dissension  being  removed  from 
the  world,  and  the  King's  mind  wholly  set  upon  the 
destruction  of  the  Huguenots,  and  the  desire  to  be  helped 
in  this  by  my  brother,  so  that  he  and  they  might  become 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  141 

eternally  at  cross-purposes,  and  as  the  King,  for  these 
reasons,  wished  to  prevent  me  from  joining  the  King,  my 
husband,  he  showered  all  kinds  of  caresses  upon  my 
brother  and  myself,  so  that  we  should  be  contented  to 
remain  at  the  Court." 

The  new  war  in  which  d'Alen9on  took  part  against 
his  former  ally  and  sometime  rival,  the  King  of  Navarre, 
took  place  in  1577,  but  before  it  broke  out  Fran9ois  had 
picked  up  the  threads  of  his  old  liaison  with  Madame  de 
Sauve,  when,  owing  to  the  absence  of  his  brother-in-law, 
he  was  able  to  bask  undisturbed  in  the  smiles  of  this 
corrupt  woman.  During  the  recent  civil  war  Bussy  had 
signalised  himself  by  an  action  worthy  of  his  character, 
and  one  calculated  to  enhance  the  glory  of  the  Princess 
to  whom  he  openly  professed  his  chivalric  devotion. 
Having  vanquished  a  certain  captain,  named  Page,  in 
single  combat,  Bussy  was  about  to  despatch  him,  when 
the  vanquished  gentleman  conceived  the  happy  thought 
of  recommending  himself  to  the  lady  of  his  conqueror's 
thoughts.  "  Thereupon,"  says  Brant6me,  "  Bussy,  struck 
to  the  heart  by  the  saying,  replied,  *Go  then,  seek  through 
the  world  the  most  beautiful  princess  and  lady  in  the 
universe,  throw  thyself  at  her  feet  and  thank  her,  and  tell 
her  that  Bussy  has  spared  thy  life  for  love  of  her.'  And 
that  was  done." 

Marguerite  was,  however,  ere  long  to  lose  for  ever  the 
services  of  the  valiant  and  disreputable  Bussy  d'Amboise, 
a  young  noble  who,  while  continuing  to  be  the  terror  of 
the  Court,  where  he  was  constantly  killing  the  King's 
mignonSy  was  by  no  means  faithful  to  his  Royal  mistress. 
His  arrogance  became  at  length  so  great  that,  not  only 
Henri  III.  hated  and  feared  him  more  than  ever,  but 
eventually  the  love  which  d'Alen9on  had  formerly  shown 


142         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

him  turned  to  hate  likewise,  owing  to  his  impudence. 
Various  organised  attempts  were  made  to  kill  the  champion 
by  the  King's  minions,  four  or  five  together,  and  especially 
was  he  the  object  of  detestation  of  the  young  Seigneur  de 
Quelus,  with  whom  he  had  various  passages  of  arms.  In 
one  of  these,  Quelus,  with  Saint-Luc,  d'O,  and  Saint- 
Mesgrin,  all  on  horseback,  charged  Bussy  and  a  gentle- 
man with  him,  unexpectedly,  but  he  came  off  unhurt  as 
usual.  This  Saint-Mesgrin  was,  by-the-bye,  assassi- 
nated a  short  time  later  by  the  orders  of  the  Due  de 
Guise,  who  found  him  upon  too  friendly  terms  with  his 
wife. 

In  the  above-mentioned  skirmish  Lestoille  remarks 
that  Bussy  showed  great  courage  and  resolution  in  de- 
fending himself,  and  fought  with  his  usual  gaiety  of 
heart. 

The  King,  fearing  for  the  life  of  his  favourite  Quelus, 
summoned  Bussy  before  him,  and  ordered  the  long- 
standing quarrel  to  be  made  up.  *'  With  all  my  heart," 
exclaimed  Bussy.  "  I  will  even  kiss  him.  Sire."  And, 
before  the  astonished  Quelus  knew  what  was  going  to 
happen,  he  threw  both  his  arms  around  the  King's  mignon 
and  kissed  him  with  a  comic  embrace,  like  that  of  a 
pantaloon  in  a  pantomime,  which  absurd  action  made 
all  the  courtiers  laugh,  in  spite  of  the  King's  presence. 
Eventually  d'Alen9on  was  compelled  to  send  Bussy  away 
from  the  Court,  and  he  was  given  the  post  of  Governor 
of  the  Citadel  of  Angers.  This  was  after  the  invincible 
Louis  de  Clermont  had  killed  yet  two  more  of  the 
King's  mignons  in  duels,  in  the  autumn  of  1577. 

Although  the  citadel  of  Angers  was  a  magnificent 
fortress,  which  had  been  built  by  Saint-Louis  to  resist 
the  incursions  of  the  Bretons  and  Normans,  it  was  with 


LOUIS    DE    CLERMONT    D'AMBOISE,    SEIGNEUR    DE    BUSSY 
(From  a  portrait  in  the  Chdteau  de  Beauregard) 


143 


The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre         145 

considerable  difficulty  that,  in  spite  of  the  King's  anger, 
Bussy  could  be  induced  to  leave  the  Court.  When  at 
length  he  did  do  so,  he  took  away  with  him  one  of  the 
Queen-Mother's  ladies,  named  Julita  Guadagnini,  whom 
he  called  one  of  his  petites  mattresses,  to  distinguish  her 
from  his  grandes  mattresses^  who  were  Princesses  or 
great  ladies  of  the  Court. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Queen-Mother  allowed  this 
young  Italian  to  follow  Bussy  for  reasons  of  her  own,  in 
order  to  be  a  spy  upon  his  movements,  for  such  indeed 
she  became. 

After  various  adventures,  during  one  of  which  Bussy 
with  his  followers  ravaged  and  pillaged  in  peace  time 
a  couple  of  the  King's  provinces,  he  fell  in  love  with, 
or  perhaps  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  he  won  the 
love  of,  a  young  married  lady.  This  was  the  seventeen- 
year-old  Diane  de  Bertheret,  the  wife  of  the  Comte  de 
Monsoreau,  whose  seat  was  the  fine  old  Chateau  de 
Constanci^res,  six  miles  from  Angers. 

After  the  liaison  with  this  young  girl,  who  had  been 
dazzled  with  the  brilliancy  of  Bussy  d'Amboise,  had 
lasted  some  little  time,  the  neglected  petite  maitresse 
Julita  sent  word  to  Catherine  de  M^dicis,  who  informed 
the  King  in  turn. 

Henri  III.  was  delighted — at  last  he  had  obtained 
the  long-wished-for  opportunity  of  vengeance  upon  his 
brother's  insolent  favourite.  The  King  told  the  Comte 
de  Monsoreau,  then  present  at  the  Court,  that  he  was 
being  deceived,  and  advised  him  to  go  off  at  once,  with 
a  large  body  of  men,  to  his  castle,  to  surprise  and  massacre 
the  betrayer  of  his  honour. 

Bussy  was  surprised  accordingly,  one  night,  in  the 
boudoir  of  the  young  Comtesse,  when  he   fought  with 


146         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

the  gallantry  of  a  lion.  Although  attacked  by  relays  of 
men,  ,by  six  at  a  time,  he  slaughtered  about  a  dozen 
of  his  assailants,  including  the  Comte  de  Monsoreau. 
After  his  sword  was  broken  he  severely  wounded  several 
more  with  the  leg  of  a  table,  but  was  eventually  killed 
while  endeavouring  to  make  good  his  escape  by  a 
window. 


CHAPTER   XIV 
Henri  in  Love,  Marguerite  Arrested 

1577— 1578 

It  was  at  about  this  period  that  the  Due  Henri  de  Guise, 
at  the  head  of  the  ultra-Catholic  party,  first  commenced 
the  organisation  of  the  celebrated  League  which,  under 
him  and  his  brother,  the  Due  de  Mayenne,  proved  to 
be  such  a  terrible  thorn  in  the  side  of  Henri  III.  during 
the  remainder  of  his  reign. 

It  was  in  order  to  assist  his  brother-in-law,  the  King, 
against  the  League,  which  was  greatly  aided  by  Spain, 
that,  many  years  later,  Henri  de  Navarre  joined  his 
Huguenot  troops  to  the  attenuated  Royal  forces.  Again, 
after  the  death  of  Henri  III.,  it  was  while  fighting  against 
the  armies  of  the  League  that  the  King  of  Navarre, 
having  become  Henri  IV.  of  France,  won  those  celebrated 
victories  which  have  made  his  name  for  ever  famous. 

The  antagonism  between  the  House  of  Bourbon  and 
that  of  Guise  was  indeed  in  no  manner  less  marked 
than  that  between  the  Guise  and  the  Valois.  Although 
Henri  IV.,  by  a  combination  of  tact  and  bribery,  was, 
after  administering  to  him  various  good  trouncings, 
eventually  able  to  bring  the  Due  de  Mayenne  over  to 
his  side,  he  was  never  but  once  heard  to  say  a  word 
approbatory  of  Henri  de  Guise.     This,  however,  according 

147  9 


148         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

to  Lestoille,  he  did  when  he  learned  that  this  Prince  had 
caused  the  open  murder  of  the  mignon  Saint-Mesgrin  for 
making  too  free  with  his  wife,  the  former  Princesse  de 
Porcien.  Henri  de  Navarre  then  remarked :  "  I  am 
very  grateful  to  the  Due  de  Guise,  my  cousin,  for  not 
having  been  able  to  allow  a  bedchamber  mignon  to  make 
a  laughing-stock  of  him.  That  is  the  way  in  which  one 
ought  to  treat  all  of  these  little  gallants  of  the  Court, 
who  mix  themselves  up  with  approaching  the  Princesses, 
to  cast  sheep's-eyes  at  them  and  to  make  love  to  them." 

Since  we  find  him  thus  openly  approving  of  the  ven- 
geance of  his  enemy  Guise,  we  can  well  imagine  that 
Henri  did  not  either  spare  his  jeers  and  sneers  when 
he  heard  of  the  death  of  his  wife's  celebrated  gallant, 
Bussy  d'Amboise,  caught  in  the  end  like  a  rat  in  a  corner 
of  a  yard  from  which  there  was  no  escape.  Nevertheless, 
the  King  of  Navarre  was  at  this  very  time  engaged  him- 
self in  casting  sheep's-eyes,  which  were  for  a  time  thrown 
in  vain,  at  a  very  pretty  and  interesting  young  lady, 
one  of  his  own  subjects.  We  have  mentioned  how  Henri 
had  regained  his  sister  Catherine  from  the  guardianship 
or  imprisonment  which  she  had  been  undergoing  at  the 
Court  of  France,  and  that  she  had  then  become  a 
Protestant  again,  as  she  had  been  in  her  childhood.  He 
now  took  her  off  to  the  Court  of  Navarre,  which  its  King 
was  in  the  habit  of  gathering  around  him  alternately  at 
the  two  B6arnese  capitals,  N6rac  and  Pau.  There  he 
appointed,  as  governess  to  his  sister,  now  termed 
"  Madame,"  a  lady  of  noble  birth,  Madame  de  Tignon- 
viUe. 

This  lady  had  a  young  and  beautiful  daughter,  Jeanne, 
for  whom  her  amorous  King  was  soon  sighing  full  blast 
with  all  the  fury  of  a  furnace.     The  girl,  however,  was 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  149 

virtuous,  or  at  any  rate  determined  to  remain  chaste 
until  her  marriage.  Thereupon  Henri  vainly  imagined 
that  he  could  employ  his  faithful  follower  and  watch-dog, 
d'Aubigne,  to  overcome  the  young  lady's  scruples.  He 
had,  however,  got  hold  of  the  wrong  man  ;  there  were 
not  many  things  that  d'Aubigne  would  not  do  in  peace 
or  war  to  oblige  the  King  of  Navarre,  but  to  play  the 
role  of  Mercury  to  his  Jove  was  not  one  of  them. 
Accordingly,  in  spite  of  prayers  and  menaces,  and  likewise 
various  bad  turns  which  the  malicious  Henri  played  his 
servant,  the  gallant  d'Aubigne  remained  most  obstinately 
incorruptible  ;  and  we  honour  him  accordingly,  as  being 
a  man  of  far  more  principle  than  his  master. 

Agrippa  d'Aubigne  relates  in  his  Mimoires  this 
episode  of  the  Gascon  King,  with  one  of  whom  the 
Due  de  Sully  also  speaks,  and  who  is  called  in  that  lively 
satire,  the  Confession  de  Sancy^  by  the  familiar  name  of 
La  petite  'Tignonville.  We  will  quote  the  worthy  historian. 

"  Thence  the  King  of  Navarre  made  his  journey 
into  Gascony.  Thereupon  the  young  King,  having 
commenced  his  amours  with  the  young  Tignonville,  who, 
as  long  as  she  remained  a  maid,  virtuously  resisted,  the 
King  sought  to  employ  Aubigne  in  the  matter,  having 
asserted,  as  a  certain  fact,  that  to  him  nothing  was 
impossible. 

"  He,  however,  vicious  enough  in  great  matters, 
and  who  perhaps  might,  from  caprice,  not  have  refused 
this  service  to  a  companion  of  his  own,  revolted  so  greatly 
against  the  name  of  *  pander,'  which  he  looked  upon  as 
a  beggarly  vice,  that  neither  the  excessive  caresses  nor 
the  infinite  prayers  of  his  master,  which  went  so  far  as 
to  join  his  hands  upon  his  knees  before  him,  could  move 
him  in  the  least. 


ISO         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

**  Malice  then  pushed  the  King,  his  master,  to  make 
him  all  sorts  of  quarrels,  to  prevent  him  from  getting 
his  pay,  and  even  to  keep  his  clothes,  so  as  to  reduce  him 
to  want." 

So  far  did  the  love-sick  Henri  go,  and  even  farther, 
but  all  was  of  no  avail.  Of  all  those  at  the  Court  of 
Navarre  whom  d'Aubigne  detested,  he  most  hated  Fer- 
vacques,  the  traitor  who  had  betrayed  the  plan  of  Henri's 
proposed  escape  from  Senlis  to  the  King.  The  B^arnais 
now  pretended  to  take  the  side  of  Fervacques  against 
d'Aubigne,  but  even  this  had  no  effect.  Upon  another 
occasion  d'Aubign6,  having  been  with  Henri  in  a 
midnight  brawl,  in  which  he  was  compelled  to  draw 
his  sword  to  protect  his  master,  this  latter  subsequently 
endeavoured  to  move  d'Aubigne,  by  meanly  representing 
to  him  that  he  was,  after  all,  the  companion  of  his 
debauches,  and  therefore  ought  not  to  refuse  him  the 
service  demanded.  But  still,  and  in  spite  of  everything, 
the  author  of  the  Mimoires  remained  unmoved  and 
absolutely  inflexible. 

In  the  meantime  Jeanne  de  Tignonville  remained  on 
her  side  equally  inflexible,  until  the  King  of  Navarre 
having  provided  her  with  a  husband  in  the  person  of 
Fran9ois,  Baron  de  Pardaillan,  Comte  de  Pangeas,  she 
considered  that  her  reputation  was  no  longer  at  stake, 
and  yielded  to  her  Sovereign's  desires. 

At  last,  then,  the  King  of  Navarre  was  successful  in 
attaining  the  object  of  his  passion,  apparently  with  no 
opposition  on  the  part  of  Jeanne's  husband,  who,  with 
the  usual  facihty  of  the  husbands  of  those  days  in  the 
presence  of  Royalty,  doubtless  eclipsed  himself  until  the 
fickle  fancy  of  the  young  King  had  been  enchained  else- 
where.   After  that  period  had  arrived,  we  find  the  Comte 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  151 

de  Pangeas,  whom  the  Princess  Catherine  scornfully 
called  *'  that  great  buffalo  of  a  Pangeas,"  doing  all  in 
his  power  to  aid  the  King  of  Navarre,  in  a  matter  which 
concerned  this  young  lady.  This  was  when  Charles  de 
Bourbon,  Comte  de  Soissons,  the  younger  brother  of  the 
Prince  de  Conde,  endeavoured  to  marry  his  fair  cousin, 
after  Henri  de  Navarre  had  withdrawn  the  consent  which 
he  had  formerly  given  to  this  match  with  his  sister. 
De  Pangeas  then  effectually  prevented  the  marriage 
between  the  pair,  who  loved  each  other  devotedly,  by 
threatening  to  put  the  young  Prince  of  the  Blood  under 
arrest.  De  Soissons  was  forced  to  leave  B6arn,  while 
threatening  to  kick  the  Comte  de  Pangeas  down-stairs  on 
the  first  opportunity.  This  was  a  threat  which  he  sub- 
sequently most  effectually  carried  out  in  a  palace.  But  the 
young  Prince  never  won  his  lady-love,  while  the  husband 
of  la  petite  Tignonville  won,  if  nothing  else,  the  gratitude 
of  the  King  of  Navarre,  who  forcibly  married  his  almost 
heart-broken  sister  to  the  Due  de  Lorraine  et  Bar. 

While  Henri  was  philandering  with  "la  Tignonville" 
in  his  Court  at  Pau,  and  Fran9ois  philandering  with 
*'  la  Sauve  "in  Paris,  events  suddenly  took  an  unfavour- 
able turn  for  this  latter  at  the  Louvre.  D*Alen9on  had, 
as  we  said,  grown  to  dislike  Bussy  almost  as  much  as  he 
had  formerly  cherished  him,  and  had  therefore  consented 
to  his  favourite's  banishment  from  the  Court.  The  cause 
for  the  estrangement  between  this  worthy  couple  was  a 
puerile  one.  Francois  one  day  insisted  upon  making 
Bussy  join  him  in  a  foolish  game,  which  consisted  in  seeing 
which  could  say  the  most  insulting  things  to  the  other. 
The  Prince  having  made  use  of  some  very  opprobrious 
expressions  concerning  Bussy,  this  latter  capped  it  by 
replying  :  **  Well,  as  for  you,  1  would  not  even  take  you 


152         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

for  my  dog-keeper  ;  you  are  far  too  ugly  !  "  This  ended 
this  entertaining  game,  and  Frangois,  who,  as  the  result  of 
small-pox,  was  indeed,  as  he  knew,  far  from  good-looking, 
could  not  have  been  more  insulted  than  by  this  remark, 
and  never  forgave  it.  He  was,  however,  very  sorry  for 
himself  when  Bussy  d'Amboise,  whose  sword  had  ever 
been  his  defence,  had  been  forced  to  withdraw  from 
the  Louvre  ;  for  then,  with  the  King's  connivance, 
the  insolence  of  the  mignons  to  Monsieur  knew  no 
bounds. 

One  night  at  a  ball,  upon  the  occasion  of  a  wedding 
at  the  Louvre,  they  not  only  talked  so  loudly  that  he 
could  but  hear  them  of  d'Alenfon's  mean  appearance,  but 
even  trod  on  his  toes  as  if  by  accident.  Furious  at  these 
insults,  which  he  knew  to  be  instigated  by  his  brother,  the 
King,  d'Alen9on  declared  to  Catherine  de  Medicis  that 
he  would  instantly  withdraw  himself  from  a  Court  where 
the  heir  to  the  throne  could,  with  impunity,  be  treated 
with  such  unveiled  contempt. 

To  allow  his  brother  to  depart,  probably  to  raise  the 
country  once  more  against  him,  did  not  at  all  suit  the 
King's  book.  When  informed  by  his  mother  that 
Fran9ois  intended  to  retire  to  Saint-Germain  on  the 
morrow,  Henri  IIL,  being  stirred  up  by  the  mignons, 
became  in  a  furious  rage  with  his  brother.  Rising  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  he  went  in  his  dressing-gown 
to  find  the  Queen-Mother  ;  telling  her  that  the  State 
was  in  danger,  and  that  he  was  going  to  seize  his 
brother's  person  and  search  through  all  his  effects. 
Henri  IIL  then  marched  off  with  M.  de  Losse,  the 
Captain  of  the  Scottish  Guard,  and  some  Scotch  archers, 
to  d'Alengon's  chamber. 

Fearing  Jest  the  King  should  murder  his  brother,  the 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valo  153 

old  Queen  rose  from  her  bed,  threw  on   her  dressing- 
gown,  and  accompanied  her  son. 

Knocking  violently  at  his  brother's  door,  Henri 
demanded  instant  admission,  and,  once  inside,  began  to 
abuse  him  furiously,  while  causing  the  archers  to  carry 
off  all  his  boxes  and  articles  of  furniture  to  be  searched 
for  treasonable  papers.  The  King  himself  rummaged 
through  his  brother's  bed,  in  which  he  was,  for  incrimin- 
ating documents.  As  it  happened,  Francois  had  gone 
to  sleep  with  a  billet-doux  from  Madame  de  Sauve  under 
his  pillow.  This  he  tried  to  hide,  but  the  King  fought 
with  him  for  it,  and,  being  assisted,  took  it  from  him 
by  force.  Vainly  now  did  the  young  Prince  beg  his 
brother  not  to  read  it,  and  vow  that  the  papers  contained 
nothing  treasonable.  Henri  III.  insisted  upon  opening 
the  letter,  with  Catherine  de  M^dicis,  when  the  King  and 
his  mother  were  both  very  confused  at  its  contents. 

This  only  augmented  the  King's  rage,  and  he  there- 
fore gave  the  Due  d'Alen9on  under  the  charge  of  Jean 
de  Losse  and  the  archers  of  the  Scottish  Guard,  and  left 
him. 

This  irruption  into  Frangois'  chamber  took  place  at 
one  in  the  morning,  and  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  in  her 
description  of  the  letter  scene,  takes  care  to  air  her 
erudition  by  dragging  in  an  amusing  reference  to  Roman 
history.  She  declares  that  the  King  and  Queen-Mother 
were  as  much  embarrassed  as  was  Cato,  when,  having 
obliged  Caesar,  in  the  Senate,  to  display  the  paper  which 
had  been  brought  to  him,  and  which  he  declared  was 
something  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  Republic,  it  turned 
out  to  be  a  love-letter  which  the  sister  of  this  very  Cato 
had  addressed  to  him. 

In    spite   of    the  [unfriendly   feeling    lately   existing 


154         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

between  Bussy  d'Amboise  and  his  master,  this  dare-devil 
gallant  had  recently  arrived  in  Paris  in  disguise,  and  was 
hidden  in  the  Louvre,  partly,  no  doubt,  in  order  to  carry 
on  his  amour  with  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  and  partly  to 
confer  in  secret  with  d'Alengon  upon  the  subject  of  the 
army  which  the  young  Prince  was  endeavouring  to  raise 
at  this  time  for  the  invasion  of  Flanders — although 
against  his  brother's  wishes.  ,   - 

Henri  III.,  having  given  orders  to  arrest  the  Due 
d'Alen9on's  personal  attendants,  the  Sieur  de  Larchant, 
Captain  of  the  Guards,  went  up  to  the  apartment  of  the 
Due's  Chamberlain,  Jean  de  Simier,  a  gentleman  not 
celebrated  for  his  excess  of  courage.  De  Larchant,  having 
arrested  Simier,  who  was  in  a  terrible  fright,  was  retiring 
with  his  prisoner.  He  had  a  shrewd  idea  that  Bussy 
was  somewhere  not  far  away,  but  the  pair  had  been 
friends  from  the  time  of  the  Massacre  of  Saint-Bar- 
tholomew, and   so  he  did   not  want  to  find  him. 

At  that  time  de  Larchant,  taking  advantage  of  the 
general  confusion,  in  which  many  who  were  not  Hugue- 
nots were  intentionally  murdered,  had  contrived  to  get 
rid  of  the  step-father  and  two  half-brothers  of  the 
handsome  Mademoiselle  de  la  Chataigneraie.  By  this 
means  the  young  lady,  with  whom  de  Larchant  had  a 
secret  understanding,  became  a  rich  heiress,  and  he 
married  her. 

The  Captain  of  the  Guards  had  then  given  to  Bussy 
the  counsel  of  likewise  slaughtering  his  cousin,  Antoine 
de  Clermont,  the  half-brother  of  the  Prince  de  Porcien, 
with  whom  Bussy  had  a  lawsuit  for  the  Marquisate  of 
Renel  and  the  territories  thereto  appertaining.  Louis 
de  Clermont  took  this  advice,  but  it  was  in  a  duel,  in 
which  his  unhappy  cousin  Antoine  fought  in  his  night- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  155 

shirt,  that  Bussy  killed  him,  upon   that  dreadful   night 
of  August  24th,   1572. 

Owing  to  the  bond  of  blood  thus  formerly  established 
between  the  Captain  of  the  Guards  and  Louis  de  Cler- 
mont, the  former  was  by  no  means  anxious  to  put  his 
friend  in  the  power  of  the  infuriated  King,  and  endeav- 
oured to  get  away  without  allowing  the  soldiers  with  him 
to  discover  him  if  he  should  happen  to  be  concealed 
anywhere  at  hand. 

It  did  not,  however,  suit  the  indomitable  Bussy  to 
be  left  behind  ;  thus  he  determined  to  be  arrested  too, 
thinking,  no  doubt,  that  it  might  very  possibly  go  worse 
with  him  should  he  fall  into  other  hands.  Suddenly, 
therefore,  Bussy's  head  was  thrust  out  from  behind  the 
curtains  of  Simier's  bed,  and  a  jocular  voice  heard  crying 
out :  "  Hola !  father  Larchant ;  what,  are  you  going  off 
without  me  .''  Don't  you,  then,  esteem  my  conduct  as 
honourable  as  that  of  that  hang-dog  of  a  Simier  ?  " 

"  Would  to  God,"  exclaimed  Larchant,  "  that  he 
might  have  deprived  me  of  an  arm  rather  than  that  I 
should  have  found  you  here  !  " 

Bussy  replied  :  "  My  father,  that  is  merely  a  sign 
that  matters  are  going  well  with  me."  And  he  went  ofF 
as  a  prisoner,  laughing  and  jeering  the  whole  time  at 
his  fellow-prisoner,  Simier,  for  his  pitiable  and  cast-down 
appearance,  although  his  own  risk  of  losing  his  head  was 
by  far  the  greater  of  the  two. 

Bussy  and  Simier  were,  however,  both  set  at  liberty 
when,  some  little  time  later,  the  Due  d'Alen9on  was 
himself  released  from  confinement. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  night  of  the  arrest.  It 
is  on  account  of  the  circumstances  that  then  took  place 
that   the   contemporaries   of  Marguerite   de   Valois   are 


156         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

unanimous  in  regarding  the  relation  between  that  young 
Princess  and  the  Due  d'Alen9on  as  not  having  been  one 
that  should  have  existed  between  a  brother  and  sister. 

Fran9ois,  left  alone  with  M.  de  Losse  and  the 
Scottish  archers,  inquired  anxiously  from  the  former 
what  had  been  done  to  his  sister,  for  he  was  sure  that 
if  he  was  in  disgrace  she  would  be  in  the  same  plight. 
Upon  receiving  the  reply  that  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
was  at  present  in  safety,  Fran9ois  replied  in  a  self- 
sufficient  manner  which  showed  how  very  sure  he  was 
of  his  sister's  affections. 

"  It  is  a  great  relief  to  my  distress  to  know  that  my 
sister  is  free,  but,  even  if  she  be  so,  I  am  assured  that 
she  loves  me  so  greatly  that  she  would  rather  be  a 
prisoner  with  me  than  live  in  freedom  without  me." 
He  then,  without  first  sending  to  inquire  from  Mar- 
guerite her  wishes  on  the  subject,  sent  M.  de  Losse  to 
demand  the  Queen-Mother  to  beg  the  King  to  allow  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  to  come  and  share  his  captivity  with 
him,  which  permission  was  granted. 

Accordingly,  at  the  break  of  day.  Marguerite,  while 
still  sleeping,  was  suddenly  aroused  by  the  curtains  of 
her  bed  being  drawn,  while  the  head  of  a  Scottish  archer 
appeared  between  them.  Speaking  with  a  broad  Scotch 
accent,  this  man  said  tersely  :  *'  Bon  jour,  Madame. 
Monsieur  your  brother  begs  you  to  come  and  see  him." 

The  astonished  Marguerite,  but  half  awake,  asked 
this  man,  whom  she  thought  she  recognised,  if  he  did 
not  belong  to  the  Scottish  Guard. 

Upon  his  answering  yes,  that  was  so,  the  young 
Queen  asked,  "  Well,  had  he  got  no  other  messenger 
to  send  me  but  you  ^ " 

The  honest  Scot  said  no,  ther?  was  nobody  left  tg 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  157 

the  Due  d'Alen9on,  and  related  what  had  passed  during 
the  night.  He  was  most  friendly,  and  whispered  in 
Marguerite's  ear :  "  Do  not  upset  yourself.  I  can  manage 
to  save  your  brother,  and  will  do  so,  but  I  shall  have 
myself  to  go  off  with   him." 

Marguerite  huddled  on  her  clothes  as  fast  as  she 
could,  and  the  archer  took  her  off  with  him  to  her 
brother's  chamber.  As  the  Queen  of  Navarre  was 
compelled  to  cross  the  big  courtyard  of  the  Louvre,  full 
of  people,  she  noticed  that  all  those  who  usually  bowed 
down  to  her,  now  seeing  her  in  misfortune,  turned  their 
backs  upon  her. 

Upon  her  arrival  in  Francois'  chamber  her  brother 
tenderly  kissed  her  and  addressed  her,  so  Marguerite 
says,  as  follows  :  "  Oh,  my  Queen,  dry  your  tears,  for 
your  affliction  is  the  only  thing  that  distresses  me.  .  .  . 
My  only  fear  is  that,  being  unable  to  bring  about  my 
death,  they  may  make  me  languish  in  a  long  imprison- 
ment ;  but  even  then  I  shall  despise  their  tyranny  if  only 
you  will  grant  me  the  favour  of  your  company." 

Marguerite  replied,  through  her  sobs,  that  God  alone 
should  prevent  her  from  bearing  him  company,  whatever 
his  fate  might  be,  and  that  if  he  were  to  be  removed 
from  her  she  would  kill  herself  on  the  spot.  From 
which  remark  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  loved   her  brother  very  much. 

The  affectionate  brother  and  sister  were  not  kept 
long  in  confinement,  before  Catherine  de  Medicis,  fear- 
ing the  effect  throughout  the  Kingdom  of  their  im- 
prisonment, persuaded  the  King  to  release  them, 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  before  their  release, 
when  they  inquired  from  a  very  grave  and  solemn 
young  gentleman,  sent  to  them  by  the  King,  why  they 


158         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

were  thus  detained.  This  Groom  of  the  Chambers, 
named  de  Combaut,  answered  grandly  that  "  Gods  and 
Kings  did  all  for  a  good  purpose,  and  their  actions  must 
not  be  questioned." 

Thereupon,  Marguerite  remarks  that,  but  for  her 
brother's  laughter,  she  would  have  given  this  grandi- 
loquent young  fellow  the  dressing-down  that  he 
deserved. 


CHAPTER    XV 
Marguerite's    Manoeuvres 

1577 

If  anything  were  wanted  to  show  how  deeply  Marguerite 
was  mixed  up  in  her  brother's  continual  plots,  the  proof 
was  supplied  by  the  anxiety  that  Francois  had  displayed 
as  to  his  sister's  fate  as  soon  as  he  had  himself  been 
placed  under  arrest. 

Not  long  after  their  mutual  release  from  close  con- 
finement, as  the  doors  of  the  Louvre  were  still  closed 
to  him,  Fran9ois  determined  to  escape  from  the  in- 
tolerable existence  he  was  forced  to  lead,  and  his  sister 
resolved  to  assist  him  in  so  doing.  He  had  the  more 
reason  for  anxiety  as  the  behaviour  of  Henri  III.  was 
so  uncertain  that  it  seemed  quite  possible  that  the 
mignonSy  who  hated  Monsieur,  might  at  any  moment 
cause  him  to  be  put  to  death,  by  poison  or  other 
means. 

To  facilitate  her  brother's  evasion  Marguerite  managed 
to  procure  a  long  rope,  which  was  introduced  into  the 
Louvre  in  the  box  of  a  lute  which  she  had  sent  out  to 
be  repaired.  Late  one  winter's  night  Marguerite,  with 
three  of  her  women  and  the  young  fellow  who  had 
brought  in  the  rope,  attached  the  cord  to  the  window, 

159 


i6o         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

which  was  situated  at  a  great  height  above  the  dry  moat 
of  the  Louvre. 

Fran9ois,  with  his  attendants  Simier  and  Cang6,  had 
secretly  gained  Marguerite's  apartment.  Of  these  three, 
while  the  former  was  not  in  the  least  alarmed,  Simier 
was  all  pale  and  trembling  at  the  idea  of  attempting 
the  perilous  descent.  Laughing  and  joking,  d'Alen9on 
bade  his  sister  farewell  and  went  down  the  rope  first, 
reaching  the  bottom  in  safety  ;  then  Simier  followed, 
who  nearly  fell  from  fear,  and  lastly  Cange  the  valet 
de  chambre.  No  sooner  had  all  escaped  than  Marguerite's 
women  attempted  to  burn  the  long  rope,  when  it  made 
such  a  blaze  that  in  a  few  minutes  the  guards  came 
knocking  at  the  door,  crying  out  that  the  chimney  of  the 
Queen  of  Navarre's  room  was  on  fire. 

The  rope  had  as  yet  been  only  half  consumed,  and  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  the  frightened  ladies  succeeded  in 
keeping  out  the  guards,  by  declaring  that  the  Queen  was 
asleep  and  must  on  no  account  be  disturbed.  These 
women  insisted  that  they  could  perfectly  well  extinguish 
the  fire  themselves. 

Fran9ois  had  fled,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  convent 
of  Sainte-Genevi^ve,  and  thence,  through  a  hole  made  in 
the  wall,  escaped  from  the  city.  Happy  in  her  brother's 
freedom.  Marguerite  went  to  bed  in  earnest  when  all 
remains  of  the  rope  had  at  length  disappeared  ;  but  it 
was  not  long  before  she,  as  usual  where  her  brother's 
escapes  were  concerned,  was  called  upon  to  "  face  the 
music "  once  more. 

M.  de  Losse  arrived  to  summon  her  on  behalf  of 
the  King  and  the  Queen-Mother.  With  the  consent 
of  the  fugitive,  the  Abbot  of  the  convent,  Joseph  Foulon 
by  name,  had,  as  soon  as  he  was  certain  that  Monsieur 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  i6i 

had  got  clean  away,  come  to  warn  the  King,  declaring  that 
he  had  himself  acted  under  force  in  the  matter  and 
was   not  to  blame. 

The  Captain  of  the  Scottish  Guards  found  Marguerite 
in  her  bed,  from  which  she  must  by  this  time  have 
become  accustomed  to  be  summoned  upon  disagreeable 
occasions.  She  merely  threw  on  her  dressing-gown,  and 
was  leaving  with  M.  de  Losse,  when  one  of  her  frightened 
women  indiscreetly  seized  hold  of  her  robe,  and  com- 
menced to  shriek  and  cry  out  that  her  mistress  would 
never  return  alive.  M.  de  Losse  angrily  repulsed  this 
woman,  while  telling  Marguerite  that  it  was  lucky  that 
no  one  but  himself  had  heard  what  she  said,  but  that  he 
would  not  betray  her. 

Henri  III.  was  seated  by  his  bedside,  in  such  a  furious 
temper  that  he  had  almost  lost  all  knowledge  of  his  actions. 
Marguerite,  while  relating  this  incident,  gives  us  in 
her  Memoirs  a  lengthy  disquisition,  to  the  effect  that 
she  would  not  tell  her  mother  a  lie  on  any  account,  "  not 
even  to  escape  a  thousand  deaths "  ;  and  yet  merely 
a  few  sentences  farther  on  we  find  her  convicting  herself 
of  telling  a  lie  most  effectually.  For  she  declared  to 
the  King  and  her  mother  that,  in  the  matter  of  his 
departure,  her  brother  "had  deceived  me  in  that,  like 
them."  Needless  to  remark  that  this  truth-loving  Princess 
quite  forgot  to  add  any  particulars  with  reference  to  any 
rope  or  to  a  certain  chimney  which  had  been  on  fire. 

Marguerite,  having  exonerated  herself,  proceeded  to 
make  use  of  her  clever  tongue  to  plead  her  brother's 
cause,  and  to  convince  the  angry  and  suspicious  King 
that  Francois'  departure  would  bring  about  no  change 
in  his  allegiance,  and,  further,  that  this  departure,  of 
which   she    had   known   nothing,  could  only  have  been 


1 62         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

in  order  to  arrange  matters  for  his  proposed  expedition 
into  Flanders. 

The  King  and  his  mother,  finding  that  they  could 
get  nothing  else  out  of  this  intelligent  Princess,  who 
was  too  clever  for  them,  pretended  to  be  convinced  by 
her  words,  especially  when  she  said  that  she  would 
answer  for  them  with  her  life. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  was  accordingly  allowed  to 
return  to  her  bed,  nor  was  M.  de  Losse  or  any  other 
Scottish  archer  sent  to  summon  her  thence  any  more  in 
the  course  of  her  history.  We  shall,  however,  find  her, 
upon  yet  one  more  occasion,  being  called  upon  to  rise 
unexpectedly  ;  but  it  was  from  a  bed  a  long  way  from 
Paris,  and  for  a  very  different  purpose  than  that  of  any 
of  the  three  occasions  which  have  already  been  recorded 
in  the  career  of  this  Princess. 

Although,  strange  to  relate,  history  does  not  record 
the  fact  of  the  means  by  which  Fran9ois  had  escaped 
ever  becoming  known  to  the  King,  we  cannot  but  feel 
convinced  that  a  woman  as  cunning  as  Catherine  de 
M6dicis  would  leave  no  stone  unturned  until  she  had  got 
at  the  bottom  of  that  matter,  which,  with  so  many  people 
in  the  secret,  must  indeed  soon  have  remained  no  secret 
at  all. 

Probably  in  less  than  a  week  after  the  departure  of 
d'Alen9on  both  Catherine  and  the  King  had  learned 
quite  sufficient  about  the  business  of  the  rope  to  know 
how  much  reliance  could  be  placed  upon  the  word  of 
the  Queen  of  Navarre.  But,  if  so,  no  notice  was  taken 
of  the  matter  at  the  time,  although  Henri  III.  probably 
treasured  the  circumstance  up  in  his  mind  for  use,  with 
a  few  other  details,  upon  a  future  occasion. 

Upon  the  morrow  of  Fran9ois'    perilous  descent  of 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  163 

the  castle  walls,  a  pretty  plain-spoken  letter  arrived  from 
him  to  his  brother.  In  it  he  informed  the  King  :  "  I 
could  do  no  less  than  withdraw  myself  from  such  slavery, 
to  escape  the  danger  to  my  life,  having  been  plainly 
warned  that  four  days  later  a  retreat  would  have  been 
ready  for  me  in  the  Bastille,  while  awaiting  a  conclusion 
after  the  fashion  of  the  methods  of  Cassar  Borgia." 

In  spite  of  this  letter,  the  Queen-Mother  flattered 
herself  that  she  would  be  able  to  persuade  the  erring 
lamb  to  return  once  more  to  the  shelter  of  the  sheep-fold. 
Accordingly,  taking  a  few  of  her  ladies  with  her,  of  whom 
one  was  doubtless  Madame  de  Sauve,  she  left  Paris,  to 
persuade  Fran9ois  how  much  more  comfortable  and  safe 
he  would  be  within  the  walls  of  the  Louvre,  where  his 
loving  brother  was  longing  to  welcome  him,  than  in  his 
fortified  town  of  Alenfon  or  elsewhere  surrounded  by 
an  army. 

Exactly  with  what  words  of  welcome  Catherine  de 
M^dicis  was  received  by  her  youngest  son  we  do  not 
know ;  but  she  returned  from  Angers,  where  she  left 
him  safely  ensconced  with  Bussy  and  a  number  of  troops, 
in  the  worst  of  ill-humour.  She  had  indeed  been  very 
shabbily  treated  for  such  a  great  Queen,  and  could  not 
get  over  the  fact  that  it  was  merely  Bussy  d'Amboise 
who  had  come  to  meet  her,  and  not  her  son,  who  had 
pretended  that  he  had  hurt  his  leg,  and  even  forced  her 
to  enter  the  Castle  of  La  Chatre  by  a  little  side-door, 
instead  of  the  grand  entrance.  Catherine  declared  angrily, 
upon  her  return  to  Paris,  that  it  was  the  first  time  in  her 
life  that  she  had  ever  been  compelled  to  pass  through  a 
*'  guichet "  ;  but,  as  she  had  undergone  various  other 
experiences  since  the  time  of  her  marriage  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  and  survived  them,  let  us  hope  that  the  Floren- 

IQ 


164         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

tine  profited  also  by  being  taught  for  once  to  feel  like 
an  ordinary  individual  when  entering  a  doorway. 

While  the  Due  d'Alen9on  was  continuing  to  organise 
his  expedition  for  Flanders,  raising  troops  from  all  the 
territories  in  the  three  or  four  Duchies  of  his  appanage, 
new  troubles  had  arisen  with  reference  to  the  King  of 
Navarre.  Now,  far  from  demanding  the  wife  who  had 
been  refused  him,  he  declared  that  he  did  not  want  her 
back  at  all.  Henri,  in  fact,  was  playing  a  game,  while 
thus  assuming  the  role  of  a  husband  violently  irritated 
against  his  spouse  and  openly  refusing  to  allow  her  to 
come  and  rejoin  him.  Outwardly  complaining  of  the 
uncomfortable  minage  they  had  formerly  led  together  at 
the  Court,  he  further  alleged  the  many  suspicions  which 
he  had  had  of  her  improper  behaviour.  While  making 
this  outcry,  Henri  de  Navarre  was  secretly  corresponding 
with  Marguerite  on  very  friendly  terms  ;  and  she  was 
replying  just  as  amiably,  while  all  the  time  trying  hard 
to  patch  up  the  quarrel  between  her  husband  and  her 
brother  Fran9ois. 

Catherine  de  M^dicis  was  not  deceived  by  all  this 
pretence  of  a  marital  quarrel.  She  saw  through  Mar- 
guerite upon  this  occasion,  and  informed  the  King,  by 
letter,  that  her  daughter  was  doing  all  in  her  power  to 
bring  her  son  and  son-in-law  together  again,  and  to  arrange 
a  friendly  meeting  between  them  as  soon  as  possible. 
This,  above  all  things,  was  what  the  King  wished  to 
prevent,  so  he  changed  his  methods  with  his  sister, 
loaded  her  with  caresses,  and  sought  at  the  same  time  to 
detach  her  from  Henri  de  Navarre  and  from  d'Alengon. 

The  escape  of  this  latter  had  taken  place  in  January 
1578,  but  in  the  previous  year  this  devoted  sister  had 
done  her  brother  notable  service. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  165 

During  the  period  of  the  short  war  in  which  Fran9ois 
had  borne  a  leading  part  against  the  Huguenots,  Mar- 
guerite had  felt  that  her  position  at  a  Court  at  war  with  her 
husband  was  unbecoming.  Then,  upon  the  pretence  of 
accompanying  her  elderly  cousin,  the  Princesse  de  la  Roche- 
sur-Yon  to  Spa,  to  be  cured  of  the  remains  of  erysipelas, 
she  made  a  journey  which  was  a  combination  of  politics 
and  gallantry  upon  her  part.  Before  her  departure  for 
Belgium  in  considerable  state,  Francois  passed  several  days 
with  her,  instructing  his  sister  as  to  the  good  offices 
which  he  desired  her  to  do  for  him  while  making  her 
progress  through  the  various  provinces  of  Flanders,  then 
under  the  Viceroyalty  of  the  brilliant  Don  Juan  of 
Austria  on  behalf  of  Spain.  Don  Juan  was  the  natural 
son  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  therefore  the  half- 
brother  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  While,  by  some  of  his 
contemporaries,  this  famous  hero  of  the  battle  of  Lepanto 
was  supposed  to  be  the  son  of  one  of  the  great  Emperor's 
own  sisters,  others  declared  his  mother  to  be  a  young 
lady  of  Ratisbon  named  Barbara  Blomberg.  Whoever 
his  mother  may  have  been,  the  young  Prince  was  of 
most  noble  bearing,  he  was  of  medium  height,  with  well- 
knit  frame,  of  beautiful  countenance  and  admirable  grace. 
He  had  already  seen,  and  greatly  admired,  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  in  Paris,  and  she  accordingly  looked  forward 
to  the  exercise  of  the  charm  of  her  seductions  upon  him 
with  pleasant  anticipations.  These  were  scarcely  realised 
when  at  last  they  met,  as  Don  Juan,  recognising  in 
Marguerite  a  fair  foe  who  would,  on  her  brother's  behalf, 
jockey  him  out  of  the  dominions  over  which  he  ruled, 
kept  his  affections  well  in  hand,  and  would  not  allow 
them  to  obtain  the  upper  hand  of  his  discretion. 

Plenty  of  other  conquests,  however,  fell  to  the  share 


1 66         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

of  the  fair  Marguerite  during  this  expedition,  when  she, 
in  the  flower  of  her  beauty  of  twenty-four  years,  accord- 
ing to  Ste-Beuve,  "  passed  on  her  way  gaining  hearts, 
seducing  the  Governors  of  citadels  and  arranging  various 
useful  perfidies." 

The  fair  young  Queen,  followed  by  the  Princesse  de 
la  Roche-sur-Yon,  a  lady  of  honour,  and  ten  noble  young 
ladies  on  horseback,  and  many  other  ladies  and  women  in 
coaches  or  chariots,  herself  travelled  in  a  gorgeous  litter, 
which  we  can  only  imagine  to  have  been  drawn  by  horses 
or  mules  from  the  description  she  gives  of  it.  "  I 
journeyed  in  a  litter,  fashioned  with  pillars,  lined  inside 
with  rose-coloured  Spanish  velvet,  embroidered  in  gold, 
and  having  shot-silk  hangings  ornamented  with  various 
devices.  The  sides  were  of  glass,  each  pane  of  which 
was  covered  with  designs,  so  that  there  were  as  many  as 
forty  diflFerent  ones,  which  had  mottoes  in  Spanish  and 
Italian  concerning  the  sun  and  its  influences." 

After  bidding  his  sister  farewell,  d'Alen9on  went  oflF 
to  join  the  Royal  Army  before  La  Charit6  on  the  Loire, 
and  upon  the  very  day  of  her  departure,  May  28th,  1577, 
Frangois  laid  siege  to  the  town  of  Issoire,  held  by  the 
Huguenots,  Both  La  Charit6  and  Issoire  were  taken  by 
him,  pillaged,  sacked,  and  burned.  The  latter,  in  a  most 
treacherous  manner,  was  taken  by  assault  while  the 
inhabitants  were  parleying  for  a  surrender,  when  the  un- 
fortunate women  and  girls  of  the  place  underwent  cruel 
outrage  at  the  hands  of  d' Alen9on's  ruffianly  soldiery. 

Another  army  under  Honore  de  Savoie,  Marquis  de 
Villars,  a  great  noble  who  had  become  Admiral  of  France 
in  succession  to  the  unfortunate  Coligny,  was  opposed  to 
Henri  de  Navarre  in  the  south.  But,  while  the  King  of 
Navarre    surprised    Eauze,   and   made    a    most    gallant 


■P/^K 


MARGUERITE    DE    VALOIS,    QUEEN    OF    NAVARRE 


167 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         169 

attempt  to  take  Marmande  by  assault,  Villars,  in  spite 
of  treachery  within,  utterly  failed  in  his  attempt  upon 
Henri's  northern  capital  of  N^rac. 

Leaving  all  horrible  scenes  of  war  to  one  side,  however, 
Marguerite  commenced  her  pleasant  journey  through 
Picardy,  all  in  the  fair  summer-time,  and  continued  it  on 
to  Cambray,  then  ruled  by  an  independent  Bishop, 
merely  under  the  protection  of  Spain.  Marguerite  had 
reached  Catelet,  a  few  miles  distant,  when  the  Bishop  sent 
a  messenger  to  inquire  when  she  would  leave  that  place 
in  order  that  he  might  come  and  meet  her.  The  Queen 
of  Navarre  had,  however,  in  her  head  an  appointment 
with  some  one  better  than  a  Bishop  ;  no  one  less,  in  fact, 
than  her  old  lover  Henri  de  Guise,  who  not  long  since 
had  received,  in  the  battle  of  Dormans,  the  bad  arquebus 
wound  in  the  face  from  the  scar  of  which  he  was  afterwards 
known  as  Le  BalafrL  A  fortunately  planned  carriage 
accident  delayed  the  pleasure-seeking  Princess  for  a  night 
in  the  inn  at  Catelet,  and  there  she  gave  the  order  for 
the  admission  to  her  chamber  of  a  gay  cavalier,  who, 
from  the  condition  of  one  side  of  his  face,  would  seem  to 
be  suffering  from  erysipelas  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
giddy  young  Queen  with  whom  he  had  a  rendezvous. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  is  one  of  the  many 
little  secrets  of  her  journey  which  the  fair  sinner  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  record  in  the  prettily  turned  phrases 
of  the  journal  which  she  dedicated  to  Brantome.  The 
chroniclers  of  the  day  were  not,  however,  so  discreet,  and 
the  relation  of  this  assignation  with  the  best  beloved 
lover  of  Marguerite's  girlish  days  will  be  found  set 
forth  in  the  Bulletin  de  la  Sociiti  Academique  de  Laon^ 
vol.  xiv.,  1864. 

Leaving  Guise  and  the  delights  of  love  the  next  day, 


lyo         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  Queen  of  Navarre  was  welcomed  by  Louis  de 
Berleymont,  Bishop  of  Cambray,  in  great  style.  This 
worthy  prelate  was,  however,  so  much  afraid  of  falling 
a  prey  to  the  seductions  of  this  Royal  siren  that, 
although  he  gave  a  great  ball  in  her  honour,  he  went  to 
bed  himself,  leaving  her  to  exercise  her  wiles  upon  the 
Seigneur  d'Inchy,  who  succumbed  at  once.  He  was  the 
Governor  of  Cambray,  and  eventually  sold  the  place  to 
d'Alen^on,  as  a  result  of  his  infatuation  for  his  sister. 

At  Valenciennes,  and  at  Mons,  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
won  greater  triumphs,  completely  winning  over  the 
powerful  Comte  de  Lalain,  Grand  Bailli  de  Hainault, 
his  Comtesse,  his  brother  and  many  young  nobles,  by  her 
beauty,  her  tact,  and  her  smiles.  And  thus  she  went  on, 
being  feted  at  one  place  after  the  other,  while,  after  first 
feeling  her  ground  carefully,  she  cautiously  opened  her 
mind  to  the  various  Flemish  Governors  of  cities  and 
districts  throughout  the  Viceroyalty  of  Don  Juan,  thus 
paving  the  way  for  the  advent  of  d  Alen9on  as  their  ruler, 
and  for  his  friendly  reception. 

At  length  Don  Juan  came  to  meet  the  Queen  in 
person,  and,  after  Marguerite  had  saluted  this  amiable 
Prince,  now  thirty-two  years  of  age,  with  a  friendly  kiss, 
he  rode  by  the  side  of  her  litter  to  the  town  of  Namur, 
where  he  entertained  her  most  royally  with  all  kinds  of 
festivities. 

Upon  a  former  occasion  Don  Juan,  who  was  very 
susceptible  to  female  beauty,  had  spoken  of  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  in  the  most  extravagant  terms  ;  saying  that 
he  placed  her  "far  above  the  ItaUan  and  the  Spanish 
ladies,  notwithstanding  that  her  beauty,  more  divine  than 
human,  was  more  calculated  to  damn  the  souls  of  men 
than  to  save  them." 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  171 

In  spite  of  his  former  enthusiasm,  while  lodging  Mar- 
guerite in  a  set  of  apartments  most  wondrously  furnished 
with  golden  and  silver  embroideries  formerly  presented  to 
him  by  the  Grand  Vizier  of  Turkey,  Don  Juan  obstinately 
refused  to  make  love  to  her.  On  the  other  hand,  all  of 
his  Spanish  captains  were  at  her  feet,  and  even  made  a 
song  about  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  to  the  effect  that  the 
conquest  of  such  a  beauty  was  worth  more  than  a 
kingdom. 

From  Namur  the  journey  was  continued  in  magnifi- 
cent barges  down  the  river  Meuse,  through  the  territories 
of  the  Bishop  of  Li^ge  to  that  city.  He  was  a  prelate 
who  received  with  the  greatest  kindness  this  fair  traveller, 
supposed  to  be  journeying  to  Spa  in  search  of  the  health 
of  which  she  already  possessed  a  superabundance.  He 
likewise,  a  little  later,  assisted  her  to  escape  from  the  Low 
Countries,  when  she  found  that  she  had  put  her  head 
into  a  hornet's  nest  from  which  she  would  have  great 
difficulty  in  withdrawing  it  without  serious  damage.  To 
Don  Juan,  however,  she  had  said  farewell  for  ever, 
although,  before  Marguerite  had  regained  French  soil, 
the  son  of  Charles  V.  showed  an  anxiety  to  see  her  again 
which  she  by  no  means  shared.  This  was  after  Henri  III., 
wishing  to  damage  d'Alen9on's  cause,  had  spitefully  and 
treacherously  informed  the  brother  of  Philip  II.  of  the 
real  object  of  his  sister's  journey  to  his  dominions. 

Don  Juan  was  not  to  be  fated  to  live  for  long  after 
the  escape  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  first  from  Li^ge 
and  then  from  the  troops  which  he  sent  to  arrest  her,  as 
she  was  continuing  a  flight  full  of  adventure,  and  during 
which  she  lost  the  wonderful  litter,  which  had  been 
the  admiration  of  all  beholders.  He  died  in  the  autumn 
of  1578,  and  was  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned  by  the 


tji         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

orders  of  his  brother,  Philip  II.,  whose  jealousy  of  his 
brilliant  qualities  and  popularity  had  rendered  him  full  of 
hatred  and  suspicion. 

Marguerite  had  remained  for  six  weeks  at  Li^ge,  to 
which  place  she  and  the  Princesse  de  la  Roche-sur-Yon 
had  caused  the  waters  of  Spa  to  be  brought  to  them 
daily,  before  she  received  the  intelligence  which  compelled 
her  to  fly.  This  was  that  the  King,  her  brother,  bitterly 
regretted  having  allowed  her  to  make  this  journey  to 
Flanders,  and  that,  out  of  hatred  to  d'Alen9on,  it  was 
arranged  that  she  was  to  be  seized  on  her  return,  either 
by  the  Spaniards  or  by  the  Huguenots,  who  now  loathed 
her  brother  Fran9ois,  who  had  been  formerly  their  friend. 

Eventually,  owing  to  her  own  tact,  combined  with  a 
certain  amount  of  good  fortune,  she  escaped  from  endless 
perils,  and  won  her  way  through  to  her  own  castle  and 
estate  of  La  F^re,  in  Picardy.  The  only  melancholy 
event  to  mar  her  pleasure,  before  she  left  Li^ge,  had  been 
the  tragic  death,  from  a  broken  heart,  of  one  of  the  most 
amiable  young  ladies  of  her  suite,  named  Mademoiselle 
de  Tournon. 

Her  lover,  the  Marquis  de  Varambon,  who  had  pre- 
viously sought  her  hand,  had,  for  some  inexplicable 
reason,  refused  to  speak  to  this  young  lady  when  he  had 
again  met  her  at  Namur.  He  relented  of  his  conduct, 
and  followed  the  Queen  of  Navarre  to  Liege,  determined 
once  more  to  demand  the  hand  of  his  former  love. 
While  riding  down  the  main  street  of  the  town,  Varam- 
bon was  blocked  by  a  crowd  watching  a  funeral  procession. 
Seeing  a  bier  and  a  white  sheet  covered  with  garlands  of 
flowers,  the  Marquis  inquired  who  it  was  that  was  about 
to  be  buried,  and  why  the  funeral  attracted  so  much 
attention. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  173 

Upon  receiving,  for  reply,  that  it  was  one  of  the 
Queen  of  Navarre's  maids  of  honour,  and  that  her  name 
was  Mademoiselle  de  Tournon,  the  guilty  lover  fell  in  a 
swoon  from  his  horse,  and  remained  for  long  in  a  state 
of  insensibility.  Upon  his  recovery,  learning  that  he 
it  was  who,  by  his  unpardonable  cruelty,  had  been  the 
cause  of  the  death  of  this  poor  girl,  after  all  the  obstacles 
which  had  previously  separated  them  had  been  removed, 
this  unhappy  young  man  suffered  for  a  second  time  the 
pains  of  death,  as  he  richly  deserved. 

By  the  time  that  Marguerite  reached  La  Fere,  a  new 
peace  had  been  concluded  with  the  Huguenots.  It  was 
signed  at  Bergerac  on  September  17th,  1577,  when  the 
King,  jealous  of  the  preceding  peace  having  been  called 
the  "  Paix  de  Monsieur,"  insisted  upon  the  new  treaty 
being  known  by  the  name  of  "  La  paix  du  Roi." 

Immediately  after  the  King's  Peace  had  been  arranged, 
Fran9ois  flew  to  his  sister's  arms  at  La  F^re,  which,  says 
Marguerite,  "  was  one  of  the  greatest  delights  that  I  have 
ever  experienced.  .  .  .  The  tranquillity  of  our  Court, 
compared  with  the  other  from  which  he  came,  rendered 
the  pleasures  that  he  tasted  there  so  sweet  that  he  could 
not  prevent  himself  from  constantly  exclaiming  :  '  Oh, 
my  Queen,  how  sweet  it  is  to  be  with  you  !  Mon  Dieu  ! 
this  society  is  a  Paradise  filled  with  all  sorts  of  delights, 
while  that  which  I  have  left  is  a  hell  full  of  all  sorts  of 
furies  and  torments.'  " 

The  happiness  which  the  Queen  of  Navarre  herself 
experienced  from  this  sweet  companionship  is  plainly 
evident  from  her  remark  :  *'  We  passed  nearly  two 
months  thus,  which  seemed  to  us  as  only  two  short  days, 
during  which  I  told  my  brother  of  what  I  had  done  for 
him  in  Flanders." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Marguerite  goes  to  Navarre 

1578 

To  the  student  of  character,  taking  into  consideration  the 
period  in  which  she  lived,  Marguerite  de  Valois — la  Reine 
Margot — can  but  appear  in  the  light  of  a  remarkable 
woman.  Throughout  the  course  of  the  sixteenth  century 
we  find  hardly  any  others  who  stand  out  with  her 
individuality.  Neither  was  this  distinction  solely  due,  as 
in  the  case  of  Catherine  de  M6dicis,  to  her  crimes,  nor, 
as  in  the  case  of  other  Royal  Princesses  who  followed 
her,  alone  the  result  of  her  inborn  sensuality,  which  made 
of  her  the  slave  of  her  passions  from  childhood  until 
old  age. 

In  the  youngest  daughter  of  Henri  II.  were  to  be 
found  united  all  the  gifts,  all  the  faults,  of  both  the 
House  of  Orleans  and  that  of  Valois.  Like  her  brother 
Henri  III.,  she  possessed  the  power  which  enabled  her,  at 
will,  to  assume  the  attributes  of  Royalty — the  air  of 
command.  Of  her  grandfather,  Francois  I.,  she  had  in- 
herited the  love  of  glory  as  well  as  the  vanity,  while  of 
his  cousin  and  predecessor,  Louis  XII.,  she  seemed  to 
share  the  kindly  nature. 

From  her  father,  Henri  II.,  Marguerite  had  inherited 
various  qualities.     Among  them  was  that  of  affability  to 

174 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         17  S 

her  inferiors,  but  likewise  had  she  received  from  her 
parents  that  extraordinary  lightness  of  character  and  in- 
constancy which  was  so  notable  an  attribute  of  the  Valois 
race.  On  the  other  hand,  from  various  members  of  the 
Valois  Marguerite  had  succeeded  to  a  love  of  the  arts 
and  sciences,  while  she  traced  back  to  the  poet,  Charles, 
Due  d'Orl6ans,  that  facility  for  versifying  which  had 
been  possessed  in  such  a  remarkable  degree  by  that  other 
Marguerite  de  Valois,  Queen  of  Navarre,  the  spirituelle 
author  of  the  Heptameron. 

Nor  was  the  Queen  of  Navarre  devoid  of  a  con- 
siderable admixture  of  the  Italian  characteristics  in  her 
composition.  From  the  cunning  Florentine,  Catherine 
de  Medicis,  it  was  that  she  derived  a  considerable  astute- 
ness ;  like  her  mother,  she  was  devoid  of  scruple,  and 
once  again,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Medici  race,  she 
loved  grandeur  while  being  generously  inclined.  Finally, 
from  Catherine  it  was  that  Marguerite  had  become 
imbued  with  the  determination  to  satisfy  her  desires,  no 
matter  what  might  be  the  means  employed. 

With  regard  to  her  personal  appearance,  Brant6me 
speaks  of  her  beautiful  traits,  her  well-drawn  features. 
He  says  that  her  eyes  were  so  transparent  and  so  agree- 
able that  it  was  impossible  to  find  aught  amiss  in  them. 
He  avers  that  she  had  a  handsome  face  on  a  splendid 
body,  that  her  figure  was  the  most  superb  that  could  be 
seen,  accompanied  with  the  carriage  of  a  goddess  and  a 
sedate  majesty. 

Of  the  toilette  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  we  find  ample 
descriptions,  but  we  need  not  refer  to  them  further  here 
than  to  say  that  she  was  the  most  richly  and  tastefully 
attired  lady  of  her  day,  and  that  the  fashions  which  she 
invented  were    the  admiration  equally  of  the  Court  of 


176         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

France,  by  which  she  was  imitated,  and  of  those  strangers, 
some  of  whom  came  from  foreign  lands  merely  to  feast 
their  eyes  upon  her  charms.  When  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  eventually  left  the  Louvre,  in  order  to  rejoin 
her  husband  in  his  dominions,  if  we  would  listen  to  the 
chronicler,  this  attractive  Princess  was  greatly  missed  in 
Paris. 

"  I  saw,"  says  Brant6me,  ''  all  the  courtiers  regret  her 
departure  as  if  some  great  calamity  had  fallen  on  their 
heads.  Some  said  the  Court  is  widowed  of  its  beauty  ; 
others  the  Court  has  become  darkened,  it  has  lost  its  sun. 
What  had  we  done  that  Gascony  should  come  and 
'  Gasconise '  to  us,  and  ravish  our  beauty  from  us,  to 
lodge  her  at  a  Pau  or  a  Nerac .''  She  was  one  destined 
to  embellish  France  and  the  Court,  and  the  Hotel  de 
Louvre,  Fontainebleau,  Saint- Germain,  or  other  fine  places 
of  our  Kings." 

Even  while  allowing  a  good  deal  for  the  partiality  of 
the  devotedly  admiring  Brantome,  we  can,  after  reading 
the  above  eulogium,  not  do  otherwise  than  believe  that, 
in  appearance  and  personal  attraction.  Marguerite  de 
Valois  must  indeed  have  surpassed  all  the  other  great 
ladies  of  her  day.  However  much  regretted  she  may 
have  been  by  those  whom  she  left  behind  her,  the  owner 
of  these  charms  was,  in  August  1578,  at  length  permitted 
to  set  out  for  Gascony,  in  order  to  rejoin  her  husband, 
the  King  of  Navarre.  Whether  he  was  anxious  to  see 
his  fair  spouse  again  or  not  seems  a  matter  of  doubt. 
Lestoille  wrote  that  it  was,  according  to  common  report, 
with  very  great  regret  that  Henri  agreed  to  receive  his 
fickle  spouse.  Then,  thinking  better  of  the  matter, 
Lestoille  scratched  through  this  statement  in  his  manuscript. 
Whatever  the  facts  where  Henri  de  Navarre  was  con- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  177 

cerned,  it  is  evident  that  not  only  did  Marguerite  consider 
that  les  convenances  required  her  for  a  time  to  neglect  her 
brother  for  her  husband,  but  that  Catherine  de  Medicis 
and  Henri  III.  had  come  to  look  upon  the  matter  in  the 
same  light.  Moreover,  for  reasons  of  her  own,  to  act 
the  part  of  a  spy  in  the  south  and  to  detach,  if  possible, 
many  important  persons  from  the  Protestant  cause,  the 
Queen-Mother  was  herself  anxious  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Gascony.  What  excuse  could  be  better  than  that  of 
escorting  her  dear  daughter  to  the  home  of  her  dear 
son-in-law  ? 

As  the  time  of  departure  drew  nigh,  determined,  if 
possible,  once  for  all  to  detach  Marguerite  from 
d'Alen9on,  Henri  III.  did  all  in  his  power,  by  means 
of  large  gifts  and  caresses,  to  win  over  to  himself  the 
sister  who  knew  only  too  well  how  much  he  hated  her. 
Before  leaving  for  the  south  Marguerite,  however,  had 
insisted  upon  going  to  say  farewell  to  her  brother,  who 
was  then  at  Alengon.  A  few  days  later,  in  spite  of  the 
King  placing  armed  forces  to  prevent  soldiers  from 
joining  his  brother's  standard,  Fran9ois  marched  off 
with  a  force  composed  of  both  Catholics  and  Huguenots 
into  Flanders.  There  he  soon  became  the  master  of 
Hainault,  the  people  having  received  him  willingly ; 
indeed  they  had  called  him  in  order  to  lower  the  pride 
of  Spain.  His  army  was,  however,  nothing  but  an 
undisciplined  collection  of  plunderers,  and  d'Alen9on 
himself  an  incompetent  General,  who  was  not  even  able 
to  make  all  of  his  army  accompany  him.  A  part  of  his 
troops  remained  behind  on  French  soil,  in  Picardy  and 
Champagne,  "  sacking,  pillaging,  stealing,  violating 
women  and  girls,  killing,  setting  fire  to  houses  and 
barns  wherever  they  passed." 


I? 8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

The  peasants,  however,  rose  against  them,  and  the 
Due  de  Guise,  the  Governor  of  Champagne,  by  the 
King's  orders,  also  attacked  d'Alen9on's  pillaging  troops, 
and  slaughtered  great  numbers  of  them. 

Having  returned  from  Alen9on  in  July  1578,  Mar- 
guerite was  met  by  the  King  at  Olinville,  to  say  farewell 
to  her  ;  and  on  August  2nd  she  started  on  her  journey, 
accompanied  by  the  Queen- Mother,  the  Cardinal  de 
Bourbon,  who  was  her  husband's  uncle,  the  Due  de 
Montpensier,  and  Messire  Guy  de  Faur,  Sieur  de  Pi  brae. 
This  latter  was  a  Councillor  of  State  and  President  of  the 
Parliament,  and  then  fifty-four  years  of  age.  Pibrac  had 
been  appointed  to  the  position  of  Chancellor  to  the 
Queen  of  Navarre,  and  he  subsequently  not  only  fell 
in  love  with  her,  like  everybody  else,  but  befriended  her 
upon  various  occasions.  The  worthy  Guy  du  Faur  had 
previously  undergone  some  very  disagreeable  experiences. 
He  had  accompanied  Henri  III.  into  Poland,  and,  upon 
his  flight  from  Cracow  to  assume  the  French  monarchy, 
Pibrac,  accompanying  his  master,  had  fallen  into  a  bog, 
in  which  he  had  stuck  for  fifteen  hours  before  assistance 
came. 

According  to  Mongez,  the  farewells  between  Mar- 
guerite and  her  brother  were  not  remarkable  for  their 
cordiality.  The  worthy  canon  writes  :  "  The  separation 
of  the  King  and  the  Queen,  his  sister,  far  fi-om  being 
accompanied  by  tears  or  regrets,  was  only  remarkable 
for  the  serene  air  of  the  King  and  the  hard  words  which 
he  addressed  to  Marguerite.  These  served  to  confirm 
her  in  her  projects  of  vengeance." 

The  suite  with  which  Marguerite  travelled  to  Navarre 
was  a  regular  army.  The  lists  of  the  various  persons, 
male  and  female,  of  which  it  was  composed,  as  taken 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  179 

from  the  "  Treasury  and  receipt-general  of  the  Queen 
of  Navarre,"  would  occupy  several  pages  of  small  print. 
The  Queen-Mother  had  a  suite  equally  large,  while  those 
of  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  and  the  Due  de  Montpensier 
were  likewise  immense. 

The  journey  was  followed  with  very  slow  degrees 
across  France  as  far  as  Cognac.  There  it  would  seem, 
upon  crossing  the  Charente,  that  the  King  of  Navarre's 
sphere  of  influence  as  Governor  of  Guyenne  was  entered, 
for  Marguerite  remarks :  "  As  soon  as  we  entered  the 
government  of  the  King,  my  husband,  I  was  received 
with  a  public  reception  everywhere."  Brantome  is 
enthusiastic  about  the  welcome  accorded  to  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  at  Cognac,  where,  according  to  him,  *'  all 
the  beautiful  and  honest  ladies  of  the  country  came  to 
make  their  reverence  to  the  two  Queens,  who  all  were 
ravished  with  the  beauty  of  this  Queen  Marguerite."  So 
ravished  were  they  that  apparently  they  were  almost 
intoxicated  by  her  charms,  which  greatly  delighted  the 
Queen-Mother,  who  then  caused  Marguerite  to  dress 
herself  up  in  her  most  gorgeous  Court  apparel,  the  better 
to  dazzle  these  country  ladies,  who  thereupon  almost  lost 
their  wits  with  astonishment  and  delight. 

Henri  de  Navarre  at  length  came  to  meet  the  two 
Queens,  which  he  did  near  the  town  of  La  Reole,  being 
accompanied  by  a  splendidly  mounted  cavalcade  of  six 
hundred  nobles.  This  town  was  held  by  those  "  of  the 
religion,"  and  Henri  had  refused  to  go  any  farther, 
as,  although  a  condition  of  peace  was  supposed  to  exist 
between  him  and  the  King,  he  was  very  suspicious  of 
the  Mar^chal  de  Biron,  the  King's  Lieutenant,  who  was 
with  the  Queens,  and  whose  authority  clashed  with  his 
own.     There  were  also  several  burning  open  questions  ; 


i8o         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  Edicts  of  Tolerance  to  the  Protestants  were  not  en- 
forced by  the  King,  while  certain  of  the  cities  of  surety 
supposed  to  be  delivered  to  the  Huguenots  had  not  been 
handed  over. 

Last,  but  by  no  means  least,  there  was  the  question 
of  Marguerite's  dowry,  which,  in  lieu  of  money,  was 
supposed  to  consist  of  a  number  of  cities  in  Guyenne, 
Agenais,  and  Auvergne.  These  were  still  garrisoned  by 
the  King's  troops,  instead  of  being  delivered  over  to  the 
King  of  Navarre. 

There  were,  accordingly,  so  many  elements  of  a 
quarrel  existing,  likely  to  be  increased  rather  than 
diminished,  by  the  presence  of  Catherine  and  Biron  in 
the  south,  that  Henri  de  Navarre  was  amply  justified 
in  exercising  caution  in  the  distance  to  which  he  should 
advance  to  meet  his  wife  and  his  crafty  mother-in-law. 
It  had  not,  therefore,  been  without  some  preliminary 
negotiation  that  he  had  at  length  consented  that  the 
rencontre  should  take  place  at  a  solitary  house  named 
Casteras,  on  the  road  to  La  Rdole. 

Here,  when  the  King  of  Navarre  eventually  arrived, 
according  to  a  letter  from  Catherine  to  Henri  III.,  the 
greeting  was  mutually  cordial,  at  all  events  outwardly. 

*'  He  found  me  and  the  Queen  of  Navarre  your 
sister,  your  nephew  (the  Due  de  Bar,  son  of  the  Duchesse 
de  Lorraine),  and  my  cousins,  the  Princesses  de  Conde 
and  de  Montpensier.  We  were  waiting  for  him  in 
a  high  apartment  of  the  said  house.  Having  saluted 
us  very  honestly,  and  with  very  good  grace,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  with  very  great  affection,  the  Vicomte 
de  Turenne  and  some  of  the  leaders  entered  with  him. 
And  after  the  good  welcome  which  you  can  well  imagine 
we  gave  him,  we  talked  for  a  while  on  common  topics. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  i8i 

Then  we  descended  from  the  said  saloon,  and  he  mounted 
with  us  in  my  chariot,  and  accompanied  us  here  to 
La  Reole. 

*'  He  accompanied  me  to  my  room,  and  was  willing 
to  conduct  your  sister,  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  to  his 
lodging  across  the  street,  where  they  will  lodge  and  sleep 
together.  However,  for  fear  of  troubling  him,  your  said 
sister  did  not  go  farther  than  my  lodging  ;  and  he,  on 
account  of  the  great  heat,  having  gone  to  refresh  himself, 
he  and  she  returned  to  my  chamber  together,  where  were 
my  cousins  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  and  the  Due  de 
Montpensier." 

This  meeting  took  place  upon  October  2nd,  1578,  and 
Henri,  we  are  informed,  kissed  his  wife  a  couple  of  times 
upon  meeting  her  after  nearly  three  years  of  separation. 
So  we  may  conclude  that  he  really  was  glad  to  see  her 
again,  as  otherwise  one  embrace  would  have  been  quite 
sufficient  for  the  sake  of  les  convenances.  For  three  days 
he  remained  at  La  Reole,  during  which  the  Queen- 
Mother  assembled  one  Council  after  another  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  all  the  vexed  questions  between  the  Huguenots 
and  Catholics. 

There  was,  however,  a  considerable  difficulty  about 
the  Mar6chal  de  Biron,  as  Henri  would  not  consent 
to  meet  this  tough  old  soldier  on  friendly  terms  ;  com- 
plaining that,  in  the  exercise  of  his  appointment  of 
Lieutenant  du  Roi,  he  had  unjustly  compelled  him  to 
evacuate  the  strong  town  of  Agen.  When  the  King 
of  Navarre  first  met  Biron  he  spoke  to  the  Mar^chal 
so  roughly  that  the  latter  became  enraged.  Catherine 
de  Medicis  succeeded  in  effecting  a  temporary  reconcilia- 
tion between  them,  and  on  the  following  day,  Henri 
having   left    them,    Marguerite    and    her    mother    went 

II 


1 82         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

off,  in  order  that  the  Queen  of  Navarre  should  form- 
ally take  possession  of  Agen,  which  was  a  part  of  her 
appanage. 

At  Agen  she  was  accorded  a  magnificent  reception, 
and  after  a  few  days  these  two  Queens  proceeded  to 
Toulouse,  where  they  made  a  Royal  and  official  entrance, 
which  was  of  the  grandest  description.  Here  the  King 
of  Navarre  again  came  to  meet  them,  but  did  not  stay 
very  long,  and  before  leaving  he  insisted  that  any  further 
conferences  to  be  held  with  the  Queen-Mother  must  be 
held  at  his  northern  capital,  Nerac. 

The  Queens  travelled  about  from  place  to  place, 
Catherine  restoring  the  Catholic  religion,  at  all  events 
officially,  wherever  she  found  that  it  had  been  banned  by 
the  Huguenots. 

Coming,  on  November  23rd,  1578,  to  join  them  once 
more  at  Auch,  a  ball  was  given  at  which  Henri  danced 
most  gaily,  while  his  wife  was  the  admiration  of  all  be- 
holders for  her  grace  and  beauty.  While  the  festivities 
were  at  their  zenith  a  young  noble  named  Armagnac, 
possibly  a  distant  relative  of  the  B^arnais,  who  was  himself 
Comte  d' Armagnac,  arrived,  and  whispered  important 
tidings  into  his  ear.  These  were  that  the  Catholics  had 
seized  La  R6ole,  which  was  one  of  the  cities  of  surety 
of  the  Protestants. 

The  Vicomte  de  Turenne,  who  later  became  Due  de 
Bouillon,  and  relates  the  occurrence,  says  that  he  counselled 
Henri  to  seize  upon  the  person  of  the  Mar^chal  de  Biron, 
who  was  with  the  Queen-Mother,  but  that  the  King  of 
Navarre  decided  that  Biron  had  too  many  followers  for 
the  attempt  to  be  successful.  Instead,  he  thought  of 
another  plan  ;  and,  leaving  the  ball  with  his  followers, 
went  off  and  surprised   the  King's  town  of  Fleurance, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  183 

near  at  hand,  and  held  it  until  Henri  III.  sent  word  that 
La  R^ole  was  to  be  restored. 

This  curious  little  act  of  warfare,  which  occurred  in 
this  time  of  peace  and  reconciliation,  arose  from  the 
direct  action  of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  who  had,  in  her 
intention  to  create  dissensions  among  the  King  of  Navarre 
and  his  followers,  brought  with  her  her  Flying  Squadron 
of  licentious  young  ladies.  Among  these  were,  of  course, 
Madame  de  Sauve,  also  a  fair  young  Greek  named 
Dayelle,  who  had  been  rescued  some  years  earlier  from 
the  Sack  of  Cyprus,  and,  in  addition,  the  Italian  Anna 
d'Aquaviva,  commonly  nicknamed  La  boujfonne  cT Atrie, 
With  this  Mademoiselle  d'Atrie  the  elderly  Seigneur 
d'Ussac,  Governor  of  La  Reole,  had  fallen  in  love  while 
the  Court  was  in  that  place.  The  King  of  Navarre, 
Turenne,  and  other  young  nobles  had  thereupon  made 
considerable  fun  of  Ussac.  In  revenge,  and  instigated 
by  the  artful  maid  of  honour,  the  Governor  had  first 
become  a  Catholic  and  then  given  himself  and  the  town 
to  Catherine  de  Medicis. 

When  Catherine  learned,  to  her  surprise,  of  Henri's 
successful  counter-stroke  by  seizing  Fleurance,  she 
remarked,  while  laughing,  *'  I  see  well  that  it  is  the 
revenge  for  La  R6ole,  and  that  the  King  of  Navarre  has 
determined  to  have  cabbage  for  cabbage  ;  but  mine  is 
the  best  one." 

Eventually  Marguerite  made  her  State  entrance  into 
N6rac,  upon  December  15th,  1578,  when  Catherine,  in 
spite  of  her  objection  to  enter  this  Protestant  stronghold, 
was  compelled  to  follow  her  daughter  to  the  capital  of 
Albret. 

N6rac  was  a  very  pretty  place  in  those  days,  and 
the  Chateau,  with  its  lovely  gardens,  commodious  and 


1 84         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

comfortable.  No  sooner  were  the  combined  Courts 
assembled  within  its  walls  than  love  intrigues  and 
amourettes,  rather  than  politics,  became  the  occupation 
of  all  therein,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic, 

"Love,"  says  the  Due  de  Sully,  in  his  Economies 
royales,  Mimoires  de  Marguerite,  "  had  become  the  most 
serious  business  of  all  the  courtiers.  The  mixture  of 
the  two  Courts,  of  which  neither  yielded  to  the  other 
in  affairs  of  gallantry,  produced  the  effect  that  might 
have  been  expected  :  all  gave  themselves  up  to  festivities 
and  fetes  of  gallantry.  We  ourselves,"  continues  this 
determined  old  Protestant,  "became  likewise  courtiers, 
and  played  the  lover  like  the  rest." 

The  King  of  Navarre,  after  having  renewed  for  a 
short  time  with  Madame  de  Sauve,  fell  violently  in  love 
with  Dayelle  ;  "  but,"  remarks  Marguerite,  "  that  did 
not  prevent  my  receiving  plenty  of  honour  and  friendship 
from  the  King,  my  husband,  who  showed  me  as  much 
of  either  as  I  could  desire,  having  told  me,  upon  my 
first  arrival,  of  all  the  artifices  which  had  been  made 
when  he  was  at  the  Court  to  put  us  at  cross-purposes, 
and  showing  great  contentment  that  we  should  be 
reunited." 


CHAPTER   XVII 
Marguerite  and  the  Vicomte 

1579 

Catherine  de  M^dicis  had  proposed  to  remain  in 
the  south  merely  for  a  short  time,  but  for  one  reason 
or  another  she  stayed  for  no  less  than  eighteen  months. 
She  is  found,  at  one  time,  complaining  that  the  eternal 
negotiations  in  which  she  was  engaged  with  the  Huguenots 
were  purposely  delayed  by  the  King  of  Navarre  and 
his  followers,  on  account  of  the  delights  of  love  which 
they  were  enjoying  with  the  ladies  of  her  suite  ;  but 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  Queen-Mother 
was,  during  her  long  delay,  deliberately  endeavouring 
to  make  of  the  fair  Greek  Dayelle  the  lure  to  draw 
her  son-in-law  back  with  her  to  Paris. 

In  this  design  she  proved,  however,  unsuccessful ; 
Henri  de  Navarre  was  too  cautious  again  to  put  his 
head  into  the  lion's  mouth.  The  wily  Catherine  was 
therefore  compelled  to  return  to  the  north  without 
either  Henri  or  her  daughter.  She  took  the  young 
Cypriot  Dayelle  away  with  her,  and  after  her  return 
to  the  Court  she  was  married  to  a  Norman  gentle- 
man named  Jean  d'Hemeries,  Seigneur  de  Villars. 

Catherine,  during  her  stay  in  Navarre,  was  frequently 

I8S 


1 86         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

extremely  irritated,  owing  to  the  arrogance  shown  towards 
her  by  the  Huguenots,  who  made  exorbitant  demands 
upon  her.  For  instance,  they  insisted  upon  having  no 
less  than  sixty  new  places  of  surety  being  placed  in 
their  hands.  The  Queen- Mother  then  spoke  to  them 
"royally  and  with  a  very  high  tone,  going  so  far  as 
to  tell  them  that  she  would  have  them  all  hanged  as 
rebels."  Thereupon  the  Queen  of  Navarre  intervened 
to  smooth  matters  down,  even  employing  her  tears,  and 
at  length,  by  a  treaty  signed  at  Nerac  at  the  beginning 
of  1579,  those  of  "  the  religion  "  were  granted  fourteen 
additional  places  of  surety. 

The  worthy  Pibrac,  Marguerite's  Chancellor,  owned 
a  most  magnificent  chateau  in  the  south,  especially  famed 
for  the  splendour  of  its  furniture.  At  this  Chateau  de 
Pibrac  Gui  du  Faur  entertained  the  two  Queens  for  a 
few  days  most  royally,  and  he  was  accused  by  the 
Catholics  of  not  only  having  fallen  in  love  with 
Marguerite  but  of  having  allowed  her  to  influence 
him  in  favour  of  those  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the 
negotiations.  The  love  of  the  middle-aged  Pibrac  for 
Marguerite  was,  however,  in  all  probability  of  but  a 
platonic  description.  In  any  case,  there  seems  to 
have  been  but  little  need  for  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
to  influence  him  in  favour  of  those  of  her  husband's 
religion,  for  the  following  reason  :  Henri  III.  not 
only  confirmed  the  articles  of  Nerac  without  demur 
upon  March  14th,  1579,  but  he  did  more  than  this. 
Secretly,  the  King  conferred  upon  the  King  of  Navarre 
a  pension  of  one  hundred  thousand  livres  yearly,  with 
the  understanding  that  he  was,  if  necessary,  to  rise  with 
all  his  Huguenots,  when  called  upon,  in  his  assistance 
against     the     rebelliously    inclined     and     ultra-Catholic 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  187 

League,  which  was  daily  becoming  stronger  and  which 
the  King  already  feared. 

Henri  III.  was  at  this  time  laughing  in  his  sleeve 
at  all  the  running  about  from  place  to  place  which 
was  caused  by  his  brother-in-law  to  the  Queen-Mother. 
While  she  was  all  the  time  vainly  endeavouring  to  catch 
the  wary  King  of  Navarre  in  her  trap,  the  two  brothers- 
in-law  were  in  secret  alliance  to  upset  her  plans  and 
plottings. 

From  this  same  fear  of  the  League  Henri  III.  was  at 
this  time  also  assisting  with  money  and  troops  his  detested 
brother  Fran9ois. 

According  to  d'Aubigne,  in  his  Histoire  Universelky 
those  eighteen  months  during  which  Catherine  de 
M^dicis  was  in  the  south  were  merry  times  for  Marguerite 
and  her  husband  :  "The  Queen  of  Navarre  had  soon 
polished  up  all  the  wits  and  rusted  all  the  arms. 

*'  She  taught  the  King,  her  husband  [we  can  hardly 
believe  that  he  required  much  teaching  !],  that  a  Knight 
was  without  a  soul  when  he  was  without  love,  and  the 
exercise  of  that  passion  that  she  made  herself  was  by  no 
means  concealed,  maintaining  by  this  that  there  was  a 
certain  virtue  in  the  public  profession  of  it,  while  secrecy 
was  the  mark  of  vice.  This  Prince  had  very  soon 
learned  to  caress  the  servitors  of  his  wife,  and  she  to 
caress  the  mistresses  of  the  King,  her  husband." 

Although  the  malicious  d'Aubign6  is  never  too 
lenient  where  Marguerite  is  concerned,  there  is  ample 
proof  of  the  truth  of  this  last  statement,  although  this 
mutual  connivance  of  the  Royal  couple  had  existed,  as 
we  know,  even  before  the  King  of  Navarre  had  left  the 
Court  of  France. 

During  the  three  and  a  half  years  that  Marguerite 


1 88         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

passed  in  her  husband's  restricted  dominions — ^years  which 
she  characterises  as  the  happiest  period  of  her  life — both 
the  King  and  Queen  of  Navarre  frequently  carried  beyond 
the  bounds  of  all  decorum  this  complaisance  towards  each 
other's  favourites.  In  the  Divorce  Satyrique^  Henri  re- 
marks that  at  the  Louvre  he  frequently  had  intentionally 
kept  out  of  the  way  of  an  evening  while  Bussy  d'Amboise 
was  saying  good-night  to  his  wife.  Now  at  Nerac  or 
at  Pau  he  makes  the  statement,  or  it  is  made  for  him, 
that  he  was  equally  careful  not  to  interfere  with  his  Queen's 
penchant  for  Henri  de  La  Tour  d'Auvergne,  Vicomte 
de  Turenne,  who  became  later  Due  de  Bouillon  and  a 
Marechal  de  France,  nor  with  that  for  Saint-Luc,  who 
was  in  the  habit  of  coming  to  see  her  at  N6rac  in  disguise. 

Since  Henri,  even  before  the  departure  of  the  Queen- 
Mother,  had  himself  made  no  secret  of  his  attentions  to 
Madame  de  Sauve,  Dayelle,  and  a  third  young  lady, 
Catherine  du  Luc,  it  seems  scarcely  necessary  for  him  to 
explain  his  reasons  for  shutting  his  eyes  to  his  wife's 
intrigues  in  the  manner  that  he  does  in  the  'Divorce 
Satyrique :  *'  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  explain  my  reasons 
for  following  this  line  of  conduct.  I  was  a  King  without 
a  Kingdom,  and  head  of  a  party  which  had  to  be  kept  up 
more  often  than  not  without  troops,  and  without  money 
wherewith  to  procure  any.  Thus,  when  I  saw  the  storm 
about  to  burst  over  my  head,  I  had  no  other  means  of 
averting  it  than  submission. 

"  This  good  lady  [Marguerite],  such  as  she  is, 
was  not  without  her  uses  to  me.  Consideration  for  her 
softened  the  bitterness  both  of  her  mother  and  her 
brothers  against  me.  On  the  other  hand,  her  beauty 
attracted  a  quantity  of  fine  fellows,  whom  her  good 
nature  retained  in  my  service,  and  she  would  have  con- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  1S9 

sidered  herself  as  acting  against  the  interests  of  our  party 
if  she  had  driven  any  of  them  away  by  a  show  of  undue 
severity.  Judge,  then,  if  it  was  not  necessary  for  me 
to  allow  her  her  own  way  {la  menager)  even  if,  with  her 
other  trickeries,  she  amused  all  those  who  made  up  to 
her.  There  were  some,  however,  who  were  the  objects 
of  her  raillery,  and  I  was  honoured  by  the  confidence  of 
their  ridiculous  passion.  That  old  fool  Pibrac  was  one 
of  the  number.  For  love  he  became  her  Chancellor, 
and  he  coveted  this  charge  in  order  to  have  the  privilege 
of  writing  her  the  beautiful  letters  which  his  tenderness 
dictated,  and  of  which  the  perfidious  lady  made  fun  with 
me  in  secret." 

If,  in  truth,  it  was  really  only  from  interested  motives 
that  the  Bearnais  behaved  as  he  did,  it  does  not  tend  to 
improve  one's  opinion  of  him  in  any  way.  Whatever 
his  wife  might  have  become  at  the  time  these  words  were 
written,  and  she  had  certainly  fallen  very  low  in  the 
matter  of  the  selection  of  her  lovers,  he  might  have 
spared  her  the  imputation  of  being  ready  to  listen  to 
all  comers  at  an  early  period  in  her  career,  when  she  was 
only  selecting  her  favourites  from  among  nobles  remark- 
able for  their  high  lineage  or  their  bravery. 

Henri  de  La  Tour  belonged  to  the  former  class.     He 
was  connected  by  blood  with  the  Bourbons  and  Catherine 
de  Medicis,  and  had  recently,  greatly  to  the  disgust  of 
the  king,  gone  over  to  the  Protestant  party. 

The  Vicomte  de  Turenne  may  also  be  reckoned 
under  the  second  head,  as  he  was  a  very  distinguished 
officer  in  the  field,  which  the  King  of  Navarre,  who 
valued  his  services  highly,  well  knew.  That  he  was  by 
no  means  anxious  to  lose  those  services  when  Marguerite 
had   become    tired   of  the    Vicomte    is    made    evident 


19°         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

by  the  manner  in  which  he  says  that  he  persuaded 
Marguerite  to  restore  her  lover  to  her  good  graces  when 
she  had  sent  him  from  her  side. 

"  The  Huguenots  would  have  had  cause  to  complain 
if  she  had  found  none  among  them  worthy  of  occupying 
her  for  a  few  days.  The  Vicomte  de  Turenne  was  the 
first  to  put  himself  on  the  list.  He  was  of  good  height, 
a  handsome  fellow,  and  at  first  his  appearance  charmed 
her ;  but  he  did  not  come  up  to  her  expectations,  so 
she  gave  him  his  conge.  This  despairing  lover  wished 
to  go  off  to  hang  himself,  and  I  cannot  tell  what  might 
have  happened  if,  in  the  interests  of  our  party,  I  had  not 
persuaded  her  to  recall  him.  She  had  considerable  trouble 
in  making  up  her  mind  to  do  so,  as  her  vanity  was  at 
stake,  and  it  distressed  her  to  lose  the  glory  of  a  man  of 
such  merit  having,  like  the  lover  of  Anaxarette,  hanged 
himself  for  her  sake." 

At  this  time  Henri  de  Navarre  had  taken  his  wife  to 
Pau,  a  strictly  Calvinistic  town  which  Marguerite  detested. 
She  had,  however,  either  recovered  the  golden  litter 
lost  in  her  flight  from  Flanders  or  caused  another  to 
be  made  like   it. 

In  this  gorgeous  conveyance,  attended  by  M.  de 
Turenne,  who  alone  was  permitted  to  ride  by  her  side, 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  was  to  be  seen  daily  crossing 
the  fields  in  the  neighbourhood  of  an  isolated  chateau 
near  Le  Mas  d'Agenais.  Here,  while  the  knowing  ones 
smiled  discreetly.  Marguerite  was  in  the  habit  of  repairing 
to  discuss  political  subjects  with  the  brilliant  Henri  de 
La  Tour,  who  alone  was  allowed  to  enter  the  chateau 
with  the  young  Queen.  Behind  the  litter,  at  a  distance, 
while  going  to  or  returning  from  this  country  house, 
followed  the  Queen's  pretty  maids  of  honour  on  mules, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  191 

while  a  score  of  gentlemen  of  the  house  of  de  La  Tour 
d'Auvergne,  clad  in  orange-coloured  velvet  with  gold  and 
silver  embroideries,  likewise  followed  their  master  the 
Vicomte  and  the  Princess  his  mistress. 

So  dazzled  were  the  simple  country  folk  when 
they  first  beheld  the  glistening  golden  litter,  with  its 
beautiful  occupant  and  the  noble  cavalier  by  its  side, 
that  they  imagined  that  they  beheld  the  King  and  the 
Queen  of  the  fairies,  and  ran  away  in  affright.  It  was 
not  long,  however,  before  the  good  people  had  learned 
that  what  they  beheld  was  but  the  lovely  wife  of  their 
King,  attended  by  his  cousin,  who  sought  the  seclusion 
requisite  to  discuss  with  due  decorum  high  matters  of 
State,  having  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  the  Due  d'Alen9on 
in  Flanders. 

Henri  de  Navarre  chose  to  see  nothing  but  what 
was  correct  in  the  daily  peregrinations  of  his  wife  with  one 
whom  he  called,  in  friendly  and  playful  terms,  "  the 
great  Unhanged,"  or  "  Monsieur,  the  thorough  Rascal." 
It  might,  therefore,  have  been  imagined  that  none  would 
have  been  found  bold  enough  to  suggest  to  him  that 
there  were  serious  reasons  why,  if  he  regarded  his  honour 
he  should  put  a  stop  to  these  pleasant  promenades. 
There  was,  however,  one  such,  although  he  lived  a  long 
way  off  the  dominions  of  Navarre,   in   Paris. 

Determined  never  to  lose  an  opportunity  of  doing  a 
spiteful  ill  turn  to  his  sister,  Henri  III,  wrote  confiden- 
tially to  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  told  him  that  he  had 
better  keep  an  eye  upon  his  wife  and  the  Vicomte  de 
Turenne,  for  they  were  behaving  shamefully.  At  the 
same  time  he  requested  his  brother-in-law  to  burn  his 
letter. 

Instead,  however,  of  burning  the  letter,  taking  it  in 


192         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

his  hand,  Henri  approached  his  wife  and  his  cousin  with 
it.  In  the  most  cheery  way,  he  remarked,  "  Here,  you 
two  !  just  look  at  this  !  Whoever  heard  of  such  non- 
sense ?  Ventre- Saint-Gris  !  I  think  that  His  Majesty 
must  be  crazy.  But  set  your  minds  at  rest  ;  I  don't 
believe  a  word  of  it  ;  I  know  you  both  too  well  !  A 
good  joke,  isn't  it  ? "  And,  gently  humming  a  hunting 
song,  he  called  for  his  horse  and  his  hounds,  re- 
marking to  any  courtiers  who  happened  to  be  at  hand 
that  it  was  a  fine  day  to  go  a-hunting — for  a  good  long 
chase. 

Thus,  once  again,  did  the  venom  of  Henri  III.  prove 
unavailing  in  disturbing  the  confidence  of  this  accursed 
brother-in-law  in  the  King's  own  sister,  whom  he  would 
fain  see  strangled  if  possible.  But  much  might  be  done 
with  time,  and  the  miserable  Henri  III.  determined  that, 
when  the  time  came,  he  would  put  such  a  spoke  in  the 
Queen  of  Navarre's  wheels  that  even  that  obstinate  fool 
the  Bearnais  would  no  longer  be  able  to  prevent  her 
apple-cart  from  being  upset,  and  that  so  effectually  that 
never  could  it  run  smoothly  more. 

Thus  all  went  on  gaily  for  a  time  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Navarre,  where  not  only  was  Marguerite  reigning  crowned 
with  the  double  crown  of  beauty  and  of  Monarchy,  but 
of  so  much  use  to  her  husband  that  he  allowed  her  to  do 
absolutely  as  she  chose,  while  she  did  not  mind  how  much 
he  amused  himself,  nor  with  whom. 

There  were,  however,  soon  to  come  one  or  two  little 
rifts  within  the  lute.  It  could  not  be  expected  that 
the  music  would  always  remain  so  harmonious,  nor  was 
it  possible  that  such  halcyon  days  could  last  for  ever, 
without  a  cloud  to  mar  the  serenity  of  the  connubial 
firmament. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  193 

The  first  little  family  jar,  after  the  departure  of 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  occurred  at  what  Marguerite 
sneeringly  calls  "  that  little  Geneva  of  a  Pau,"  and,  as 
might  have  been  expected  in  such  Calvinistic  surroundings, 
it  had  to  do  with  religion.  In  the  gloomy  old  feudal 
castle  at  Pau  there  was  only  a  very  small  Catholic  chapel, 
in  which  Marguerite  and  her  ladies  were  allowed  to  hear 
the  Mass. 

While  Henri  and  his  charming  sister,  Catherine  de 
Bourbon,  went  off  to  their  Protestant  services,  to  please 
the  more  bigoted  inhabitants  of  Pau  none  of  those 
Catholics  residing  in  the  town  were  allowed  to  attend  at 
Mass  with  the  Queen.  To  effectually  prevent  their  so 
doing,  the  drawbridges  were  raised  during  the  hours  for 
divine  service.  One  day,  it  being  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
some  few  Catholics  had  managed  to  secrete  themselves  in 
the  Queen's  chapel,  and  were  hearing  the  Mass,  for  the 
first  time  for  years,  when  they  were  discovered  by  the 
Sieur  du  Pin,  the  King's  Secretary.  This  man,  Jacques 
Lallier,  was  a  good  servant  to  Henri  de  Navarre,  but 
brutal  and  overbearing.  He  had  the  unfortunate  towns- 
people dragged  out  of  the  chapel,  severely  beaten  in  the 
Queen's  presence,  then  thrown  into  dungeons  and  heavily 
fined. 

A  tremendous  conflict  now  ensued  between  the 
outraged  Queen  and  her  husband.  Marguerite  demanded 
not  only  that  the  unfortunate  Catholics  should  be  released, 
but  that  the  King  should  dismiss  his  Secretary,  who  was 
in  his  master's  presence  most  insolent  to  the  Queen, 
declaring  that  the  delinquents  should  remain  in  prison. 
Eventually  matters  reached  such  a  pass  that  Marguerite 
declared  that  if  du  Pin  were  not  sent  away  she  would 
herself  immediately  leave.     Henri  de  Navarre  was  now 


194         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

compelled  to  decide  as  to  whether  he  should  retain  his  wife 
or  his  Secretary,  whom  he  could  ill  spare.  He  chose  the 
former  while  greatly  regretting  the  latter.  Thus  was  the 
breach  healed,  and  shortly  afterwards  Marguerite  contrived 
to  persuade  Henri  to  remove  with  her  and  his  Court  from 
Pau  to  Nerac,  at  which  latter  place  all  went  as  merrily  as 
before. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

Fosseuse  and  the  Lovers'  War 

1579— 1580 

"That  Rebours,"  remarks  Marguerite  de  Valois,  "was 
a  malicious  girl  who  did  not  like  me,  and  who  did  me 
all  the  ill  turns  in  her  power." 

The  Mademoiselle  de  Rebours  of  whom  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  speaks  was,  according  to  one  account,  the 
daughter  of  Guillaume  de  Rebours,  a  President  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  While  Marguerite  had  been  en- 
joying herself  in  her  own  way,  which  way  consisted  in 
even  sleeping  in  black  satin  sheets  and  receiving  her 
adorers  in  a  chamber  illuminated  with  a  thousand  candles, 
Henri  had  been  philandering  with  Rebours. 

The  Confession  de  Sancy^  and  other  authorities,  give 
this  spiteful  maid  of  honour  a  different  parentage,  saying 
that  she  was  the  daughter  of  a  certain  Montalbert,  Sieur 
de  Rebours,  a  Huguenot  gentleman  who  had  been 
butchered  in  the  great  massacre  of  1572.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  she  belonged  to  the  suite  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre, 
who  had  foolishly  imitated  her  mother  in  surrounding 
herself  with  a  bevy  of  handsome  young  ladies,  of  whom 
she  sought  to  make  use  for  her  own  purposes.  Gillonne 
de  Thorigny  had  been  one  such,  and  it  will  be  remembered 
how  the  uses  to  which  his  sister  had  been  wont  to  put 

«95 


196         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Thorigny  had  nearly  resulted  in  the  King's  having 
accomplished  that  young  lady's  murder  by  drowning. 
She  had,  however,  survived,  to  finish  her  career  respect- 
ably as  the  wife  of  a  young  noble,  Pierre  de  Harcourt, 
Sieur  de  Beuvron. 

Mademoiselle  de  Rebours,  unfortunately  for  herself, 
did  not  enjoy  the  good  health  which  the  King  of  Navarre 
required  in  the  facile  companions  of  his  pleasures. 
When  he  found  the  coquetries  of  his  latest  mistress 
being  frequently  interrupted  by  the  doctor's  visits,  the 
fickle  Prince  ceased  to  care  greatly  about  her.  Thus 
the  poor  girl,  whose  bad  tempers  may  but  have  been  the 
result  of  her  ill-health,  found  herself  abandoned  by  her 
Royal  lover  without  a  regret  when  the  Court  left  Pau 
for  N6rac.  She  was  left  behind  sick,  and  that  it  was  a 
case  of  "  out  of  sight  out  of  mind "  is  evident  from 
Marguerite's  remark  :  "  By  good  luck,  Rebours  remained 
there  ill,  when  the  King,  my  husband,  losing  her  from 
his  eyes,  lost  also  his  affection  for  her,  and  commenced 
to  embark  himself  with  Fosseuse,  who  was  more  beautiful, 
and  at  that  time  quite  a  child  and  perfectly  virtuous." 

Mademoiselle  de  Rebours  died  while  still  young,  at 
Chenonceaux,  and  during  her  illness  Marguerite  dis- 
played an  admirably  forgiving  nature  by  frequently 
visiting  her,  while  saying :  "  That  poor  girl  suffers 
dreadfully,  but  she  has  also  done  plenty  of  harm.  May 
God  pardon  her,  as  I  do." 

Brantome,  delighted  of  an  opportunity  of  praising 
up  his  heroine,  remarks,  a  propos  of  this  forgiving 
behaviour  :  "  Behold  the  vengeance  and  the  evil  which 
she  wrought  her.  Behold  also,  how,  by  her  generosity, 
this  great  Queen  has  been  slow  to  take  revenge — how 
she  has  been  solely  good  1  " 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  197 

Henri  de  Navarre  himself  became  seriously  ill  upon 
the  journey  to  N6rac,  after  thus  leaving  his  recent  chere 
amie  without  a  regret.  At  the  small  town  of  Eauze,  near 
Montauban,  he  was  suddenly  stricken  down  with  a  violent 
fever.  Then,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  affectionate 
devotion  shown  by  his  lively  wife,  who  was  absolutely 
unsparing  of  herself  in  the  way  in  which  she  assumed 
the  duties  of  sick-nurse,  matters  might  have  gone  hardly 
with  the  King  of  Navarre. 

For  seventeen  days,  without  taking  any  repose, 
Marguerite  waited  hand  and  foot  upon  her  sick  husband. 
She  watched  him  like  a  sister — and  indeed  their  relations 
were  far  more  like  those  of  a  tolerant  brother  and  sister 
than  of  husband  and  wife. 

Eventually  Henri  was  so  touched  by  Marguerite's 
attentions  that  he  commenced  to  praise  his  wife  up  to 
all,  "and  particularly  to  his  cousin,  M.  de  Turenne,  who, 
doing  me  the  service  of  a  good  relation,  put  me  on  as 
good  terms  with  him  again  as  I  had  ever  been — a  felicity 
which  lasted  during  the  space  of  four  or  five  years  that 
I  was  with  him  in  Gascony." 

Thus  it  happened  that,  upon  their  arrival  at  N6rac, 
not  only  was  the  disagreeable  incident  about  the  Secretary 
du  Pin  forgotten  by  Marguerite,  but  Henri  and  his  wife 
were  inclined  to  forgive  one  another  anything  and  every- 
thing. Taking  advantage  of  these  mutually  amicable 
dispositions,  while  the  Queen  of  Navarre  soon  embarked 
upon  her  celebrated  love-affair  with  the  handsome  Champ- 
vallon,  the  King,  her  husband,  ardently  attached  himself 
to  the  very  juvenile  Fran9oise  de  Montmorency,  who, 
from  one  of  her  father's  titles  being  that  of  Baron  de 
Fosseux,  was  always  known  as  Fosseuse.  Properly  to 
understand  the  semi-Florentine,  semi-Spanish,  and  wholly 

12 


198         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

B^arncse  air  of  gallantry  surrounding  the  Court  at  N6rac, 
we  must  have  recourse  to  the  fair  Queen's  own  descrip- 
tion. She  places  everything  so  prettily,  so  romantically, 
that  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  the  pleasant  surroundings, 
the  softly  amorous  landscape,  the  dreamy  dolce  far  niente 
of  the  life,  which  resembles  a  prolonged  scene  from  the 
Decameron  of  Boccaccio. 

'*  Our  Court  there  was  so  beautiful  and  so  pleasant 
that  we  did  not  envy  that  of  France.  There  was  present 
Madame  la  Princesse  de  Navarre,  the  King's  sister 
[Catherine  de  Bourbon],  who  since  has  been  married  to 
my  nephew,  the  Due  de  Bar,  and  a  goodly  number  of 
ladies  and  girls  ;  the  King,  my  husband,  being  followed 
by  a  fine  troop  of  Seigneurs  and  gentlemen,  as  honest 
fellows  as  the  Court  has  ever  seen  ;  and  there  was  nothing 
whatever  to  be  regretted  about  them  save  the  fact  of 
their  being  Huguenots.  But  of  this  diversity  of  religion 
one  never  heard  mention.  The  King,  my  husband,  with 
Madame  la  Princesse,  his  sister,  went  off  to  one  side  to 
their  service,  and  I,  with  my  following,  to  the  Mass,  to 
a  chapel  there  is  in  the  park. 

"  When  I  came  out  thence  we  would  all  meet  to  stroll 
together,  in  a  beautiful  garden  with  very  long  alleys  of 
laurels  or  cypresses  ;  or  we  would  roam  in  the  charming 
park,  which  I  had  made,  with  its  avenues,  three  thousand 
yards  in  length,  lying  along  the  river-side.  Then  the 
rest  of  the  day  would  be  passed  in  all  kinds  of  honest 
pleasures,  usually  with  a  ball  in  the  afternoon  and  one 
in  the  evening." 

What  a  delightful  and  long-drawn-out  idyll  it  sounds ! 
Do  we  not  only  require  the  brush  of  a  Watteau  to 
portray  these  delightful  fetes  champetres,  to  complete  the 
radiant  young  Queen's  alluring  pen-picture  of  this  home 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  199 

of  all  the  "  honest  pleasures "  ?  How  could  any  one 
avoid  being  carried  away  by  the  delicious  atmosphere  of 
gallantry  surrounding  Nerac  ?  No,  not  even  the  steady 
old  Pibrac  is  to  be  blamed  if  he  partly  yielded  to  its 
charms,  and  felt  himself  young  once  more,  when  we  find 
the  Baron  de  Rosny — the  future  Due  de  Sully — gracefully 
bowing  and  posturing,  while  being  instructed  in  the  mazy 
minuet  by  that  most  sympathetic  of  all  Princesses,  the 
amiable  Catherine  de  Bourbon. 

Nor  can  we  be  too  hard  upon  that  rigid  man  of  iron, 
the  grim  Sully,  if,  carried  away  by  the  intoxicating  atmo- 
sphere floating  from  the  glancing  river-bed  and  through 
the  dusky  groves  of  park  and  garden,  he  too,  in  those 
early  days,  became  as  all  around  him  the  votary  of  Venus, 
Goddess  of  Love.  For  does  not  the  great  Minister  tell 
us  in  his  Economies  royales  of  the  pleasures  of  that  happy 
time  ;  relate,  alas  !  that  he  too  yielded  to  the  charm,  and 
was  too  often  to  be  found  whispering  words  of  passion 
at  the  feet  of  a  fair  and  by  no  means  unresponsive 
mistress  ^ 

Where  even  a  Sully  could  be  carried  away,  how 
could  a  Henri  de  Navarre  be  expected  to  retain  his 
head,  his  feet,  or  his  heart  ?  The  current  swept  him, 
with  all  these,  away  bodily,  and  threw  him,  all  unresist- 
ing, at  the  feet  of  the  graceful,  laughing,  but  as  yet 
virtuous,  Fosseuse,  whence  he  made  no  effbrt  to  with- 
draw. For  Henri  was  in  love — yes,  as  deeply  and  as 
hopelessly  in  love  as  he  had  been  once  not  long  before, 
with   la  petite  Tignonville. 

But,  although  he  knew  it  not,  his  wife  Marguerite 
was  holding  a  hand  in  the  game  which  left  him  dangling 
day  after  day  after  a  somewhat  saucy  and  very  bright- 
eyed  young  lady,  one  very  much  developed  for  her  age. 


2O0         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

This  was  only  about  fifteen,  in  1579,  the  year  when  the 
Court  moved  to  Nerac,  and  when,  as  we  know,  Mar- 
guerite describes  her  young  attendant  as  being  toute  enfant 
et  toute  bonne.  D'Aubigne,  as  we  shall  see  presently, 
makes  her  out  even  younger  than  that ;  but  the  historian 
of  Henri  de  Navarre  may  have  been  only  speaking  in 
general  terms,  and  was  perhaps  mistaken. 

Marguerite  de  Valois  was,  for  her  own  purposes, 
making  use  of  this  young  temptress  to  entangle  her 
husband,  in  order  that  she  herself,  with  her  lover 
Turenne,  might  bend  him  the  better  to  comply  with 
her  secret  wishes.  These  were  to  wage  war  upon  her 
brother,  Henri  III.,  who  had  so  wantonly,  by  his  ill- 
timed  letter,  disturbed  her  pleasant  little  amour  with 
Henri  de  La  Tour. 

Having  observed,  in  the  case  of  Rebours,  how  easily 
Henri  de  Navarre  had  tired  of  one  who  had  not  resisted 
his  advances.  Marguerite  had  instructed  the  youthful 
Fosseuse  to  be  careful  to  maintain  her  virtue,  and  in 
the  meantime  to  pour  the  required  suggestions  into  the 
ear  of  the  Prince  just  as  she  was  told  from  time  to 
time.  Mafguerite  says  :  "  The  King  served  Fosseuse, 
who,  depending  in  everything  on  me,  maintained  herself 
in  all  honour  and  virtue,  and  if  she  had  only  kept  on 
in  this  way  she  would  not  have  got  later  into  trouble, 
which  brought  me  so  much  also." 

This  amounts  to  saying  that  Fosseuse,  after  having 
been  at  first  the  willing  subject  of  the  Queen's  will,  being 
carried  away  by  the  love  which  she  had  begun  to  feel 
for  the  King  of  Navarre,  eventually  determined  to  take 
a  line  of  her  own,  and  to  do  as  she  chose.  It  was  not 
a  very  good  line  certainly,  as  we  shall  presently  realise, 
but  first  let  us  see  what  the  worthy  d'Aubigne  has   to 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  201 

say  on  the  subject  of  Marguerite  and  her  employment 
of  Fosseuse.  It  will  be  observed  that,  as  usual,  he  does 
not  credit  the  Queen  of  Navarre  with  any  but  interested 
intentions,  but  we  must  also  remember  that  the  quite 
unnecessary  war  called  La  guerre  des  Amoureux,  or  the 
Lovers'  War,  was  the  direct  outcome  of  all  this  love- 
making. 

"  We  have  touched  upon  the  hatred  of  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  for  the  King,  her  brother.  This  resulted  in 
that,  with  the  object  of  saddling  him  with  a  war,  at  no 
matter  what  cost,  this  artificial  woman  made  use  of  the 
love  of  her  husband  towards  *  Fo9euse,'  a  young  girl  of 
fourteen,  of  the  name  of  Montmorency,  to  sow  in  the 
mind  of  this  Prince  the  resolutions  that  she  desired. 

"  This  girl,  fearful  at  the  beginning,  owing  to  her 
age,  could  not  well  put  in  practice  her  mistress's  lessons, 
so  she  caused  her  to  be  assisted  by  a  Jille  de  chambre 
named  Xainte,  with  whom  the  King  of  Navarre  was  on 
intimate  terms. 

'*  This  bold  woman  reported,  without  discretion,  any 
news  which  the  Queen  of  Navarre  received  (or  invented) 
from  the  Court,  whether  the  contemptuous  words  of 
which  her  brother  made  use  in  his  cabinet,  or  the  sneers 
of  Monsieur  and  the  Due  de  Guise,  which  were  made  at 
her  husband's  expense  before  Madame  de  Sauve.  In 
addition,  the  Queen  seduced  the  mistresses  of  all  those 
who  had  a  voice  in  the  Council,  while  she  herself  gained 
over  the  Vicomte  de  Turenne  in  the  matter.  All  of 
their  conversation  consisted  only  of  contempt  for  a  state 
of  peace,  with  high  hopes  and  exalted  views  of  that  which 
was  to  be  gained  by  war. 

*'  The   minds    being   thus  prepared,  there  arrived  a 
dilemma  which  had   to  be  decided,  namely,  whether  to 


202         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

restore  the  places  of  surety  for  the  sake  of  peace  or  to 
defend  them  by  a  war.  The  King  only  admitted  to  his 
secret  council  the  Vicomte  de  Turenne,  Favas,  Constant 
d'Aubign6,  and  the  Secretary  Marsillere.  According  to 
his  own  good  custom,  he  put  the  matter  before  them 
in  a  manner  which  showed  the  decision  he  wanted. 

*'  All  those  whom  he  had  thus  asked  for  their  advice 
were  in  love  {amoureux)^  and,  starting  full  of  the  in- 
stigations which  we  have  explained  above,  all  could  only 
breathe  and  combine  for  war.  Thus  the  war  was  de- 
cided upon,  which,  for  the  said  reasons,  was  called  the 
Lovers'  War  {La  guerre  des  Amoureux)^ 

So  far  Agrippa  dAubigne  ;  a  man,  as  we  know, 
always  deeply  in  his  master's  counsels,  until  Henri  de 
Navarre,  concluding  that  *'  Paris  was  well  worth  a  Mass," 
eventually  changed  his  religion,  and  deserted  his 
Huguenot  followers  to  caress  his  old  enemies  of  the 
League. 

If,  however,  we  now  take  up  Marguerite's  Memoirs, 
we  shall  find  that  she  sings  in  a  very  different 
key.  According  to  her,  she  did  everything  that  she 
could  to  avert  the  Lovers'  War,  and  only  decided  to 
support  the  King  of  Navarre  against  the  brother  who 
had  always  humiliated  her  "  out  of  gratitude  for  the 
honour  that  the  King,  her  husband,  did  her  by  loving 
her." 

The  principal  events  of  the  guerre  des  Amoureux^  by 
which,  in  a  time  of  peace  and  contentment,  the  machina- 
tions of  a  few  women  set  the  whole  of  the  south  of 
France  in  a  blaze,  were  not,  on  the  whole,  favourable  to 
the  Huguenot  cause.  One  event  there  was,  however, 
which  had  a  very  considerable  effect  upon  the  future 
career  of  Henri   de  Navarre.     By  it,  instead  of  being 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  203 

merely  reckoned  a  dissolute  Prince,  one  who  could  never 
resist  the  attraction  of  a  woman's  petticoat,  the  Bearnais 
suddenly  raised  himself  to  a  pinnacle  of  fame,  became 
for  ever  stamped  with  the  brand  of  magnificent  courage 
and  soldierly  qualities.  One  can  forgive  much  to  a 
man  who  could  tear  himself  away  from  the  arms  of  a 
Fosseuse  to  behave  as  did  Henri  at  the  bloody  assault 
upon  the  city  of  Cahors. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

The  Conquest  of  Fosseuse 

1580— 1581 

One  of  the  objects  of  Henri  de  Navarre  in  declaring 
war  had  been  to  gain  possession  of  the  various  towns 
of  his  wife's  appanage,  which  were  still  withheld  by 
the  King. 

La  Fere  in  Brittany,  Agen  on  the  Garonne,  not  far 
from  Nerac,  in  Gascony,  and  Cahors,  a  strongly  fortified 
city  just  twenty  leagues  beyond  Agen,  all  formed  part 
of  Marguerite's  dowry  ;  but,  in  a  great  measure  owing 
to  the  constant  opposition  of  the  Mardchal  de  Biron, 
remained  occupied  by  Catholic  and  Royal  troops,  instead 
of  being  handed  over  to  the  King  of  Navarre. 

The  action  of  Marguerite  just  prior  to  the  out- 
break of  the  Lovers'  War  was  distinctly  such  as  to 
deceive  the  King,  her  brother.  Her  old  Chancellor, 
Pibrac,  had  returned  to  Paris  to  look  after  her  interests 
at  Court,  while  resuming  his  own  old  posts.  Through 
him  she  sent,  on  several  occasions,  false  news  to  the 
King,  assuring  Henri  IIL  that  never  had  the  Protestants 
been  further  removed  from  the  idea  of  taking  up  arms. 
No  sooner  had  Henri  IIL  been  shown  by  Pibrac  a 
letter  to  this  effect  than  he  sent  his  sister  a  gratification 
of  fifty  thousand  livres  for  her  supposed  good  offices 

«4 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         205 

in  preserving  peace  ;  but  no  sooner  was  the  war  declared 
than  the  King  told  Pibrac  violently  that  he  saw  his 
sister's  hand  in  the  game. 

Nevertheless,  while  the  war  lasted  Marguerite  con- 
tinued to  write  to  her  mother  and  brother  as  affectionately 
and  deferentially  as  if  the  profoundest  peace  were 
reigning,  for  she  wished  to  leave  herself  a  loophole  of 
escape  in  the  direction  of  the  Catholic  Court  of  France 
should  matters  ever  become  too  hot  for  her  at  the 
Protestant  Court  of  Navarre.  The  relations  between 
Henri  de  Navarre  and  the  King  would  seem  to  have 
been  excellent.  Almost  up  to  the  time  that  the  war 
commenced,  which  was  on  April  loth,  1580,  there  was 
a  secret  understanding  between  the  two  Kings.  In  a 
very  friendly  letter,  written  by  the  Bdarnais  to  Henri  III. 
at  the  end  of  January  of  that  year,  he  takes  care  to  say 
that  Marguerite  is  doing  as  much  to  preserve  peace 
as  he  is  himself.  He  also  gives  to  his  wife  the  credit 
of  having  discovered  a  plot  against  the  King  of  France 
of  which  he  warns  his  brother-in-law. 

Henri  de  Navarre  was,  in  fact,  most  anxious  to  make 
his  wife,  with  whom  he  was  on  such  friendly  terms  at  this 
time,  appear  in  the  best  light  in  the  eyes  of  the  French 
Court.  The  more  effectually  to  do  this,  on  April  loth 
he  published  a  kind  of  manifesto  in  the  form  of  an 
affectionate  letter  to  his  wife.  In  this  he  speaks  as  if 
informing  her,  for  the  first  time,  of  the  fact,  of  which  she 
is  well  aware,  that  a  war  is  commencing,  while  giving  all 
the  causes  that  the  Huguenots  have  for  creating  a  breach 
of  the  peace.  Above  all,  the  King  of  Navarre,  in  this 
letter  or  manifesto,  is  careful  himself  to  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility for  taking  up  arms. 

There   was    an    immense   amount   of    trickery   and 


2o6         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

double-dealing  about  the  whole  of  this  business,  and  it 
was  shared  by  Marguerite.  An  example  of  this  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  case  of  the  sudden  attack  upon  the  city  of 
Cahors,  which  was  planned  by  Henri,  who  was,  after 
having  caused  one  of  the  gates  to  be  blown  in  hy  petards ^ 
himself  engaged  for  two  days  and  nights  in  furious  hand- 
to-hand  fighting  in  the  streets. 

Lestoille,  who  relates  the  affair  in  detail  in  his  Journal 
du  Regne  du  Roy  Henri  Ill.y  says  that  the  King  of 
Navarre  arrived  upon  the  scene  ten  hours  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  conflict,  having  flown  with  the  diligence 
of  a  Bearnais,  after  having  risen  from  the  bed  in  which 
he  was  sleeping  with  his  wife  so  that  she  should  suspect 
nothing.  Thereupon  she  dared  to  write  and  assure  their 
Majesties  that  her  husband  was  not  at  the  taking  of 
Cahors,  when  he  was  fighting  there  in  person,  and  had 
lost  a  large  number  of  good  soldiers  of  his  guard. 

If  the  King  of  Navarre  was  actually  sleeping  with  his 
wife — so  that  she  should  suspect  nothing  ! — it  would  seem 
that  it  could  scarcely  have  been  as  far  away  as  Nerac, 
which  is  seventy-five  miles  distant  as  the  crow  flies.  For 
Lestoille  also  reports  a  fact  which  seems  curious  to  him, 
which  is  that  at  the  commencement  of  the  action  Henri 
was  close  to  the  town  of  Cahors,  arranging  everything 
himself  Now  it  is  evident  that,  if  this  was  the  case,  even 
a  man  as  active  as  the  Bearnais  could  not,  in  the  space  of 
ten  hours,  have  ridden  the  twenty-five  leagues  back  to 
Nerac,  slept  there  with  his  wife,  and  returned  to  plunge 
into  the  thick  of  the  fighting  in  the  city.  To  have  done 
so  would  likewise  have  entailed  twice  passing  the  city  of 
Agen,  held  by  the  enemy,  and  twice  crossing  the  river 
Garonne.  One  can  easily  imagine,  therefore,  that  Mar- 
guerite, who  was,  like  her  mother,  accustomed  to  travelling 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  207 

across  country,  was  somewhere  near  at  hand  under  canvas 
in  a  fortified  camp.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  actual 
facts,  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  Queen  of  Navarre, 
when  she  wrote  to  the  Court  to  say  that  Henri  had  not 
been   present,  well   knew  to  the  contrary. 

The  town,  in  which  both  the  attacked  and  the  at- 
tackers were  both  reinforced  several  times  during  the 
three  days  of  fighting,  from  street  to  street  and  house  to 
house,  was  eventually  captured  when  its  brave  Com- 
mander, the  Seigneur  de  Vesins,  was  seriously  wounded 
and  forced  to  retire  with  the  remnant  of  his  fighting 
force.  The  place  was  then  sacked  and  pillaged  by  the 
Huguenots  with  much  barbarity — an  action  for  which  the 
Mar6chal  de  Biron  subsequently  took  signal  revenge,  by 
putting  to  the  sword  all  the  defenders  of  the  small 
Protestant  places  which  fell  into  his  hands.  During  the 
prolonged  conflict  Henri  was  much  knocked  about,  his 
armour  was  battered  and  bruised,  his  feet  torn  to  pieces 
so  that  he  could  scarcely  stand.  Several  times  those  with 
the  King  of  Navarre  begged  him  to  retire  and  expose 
himself  no  longer,  but  he  refused,  saying  that  he  would 
either  be  carried  out  dead  or  march  out  victorious. 

It  was  as  a  conqueror  indeed  that  Henri  returned  to 
revisit  Nerac  and  his  beloved  Fosseuse,  for  all  France 
was  ringing  with  his  brilliant  feat  of  arms,  which  was 
enhanced  by  the  capture  of  Agen. 

When  Henri  III.  learned  of  the  taking  of  Cahors  he 
was  wild  with  rage,  and  more  than  ever  convinced  that  it 
had  been  Marguerite  who  had  instigated  this  coup  de  main 
upon  two  of  the  cities  of  her  appanage. 

He  sent  for  Pibrac  instantly.  "  Do  you  know,"  he 
cried,  "  that  Cahors  has  been  taken  and  sacked,  that  all 
the  inhabitants  have  been  butchered,  and  the  spoils  of  the 


2o8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

churches  publicly  sold  at  Nerac  ?  Yes,"  continued  the 
King,  "  the  officers  to  whom  the  Queen  has  given  posts 
have  betrayed  the  place  and  admitted  the  enemy  ;  but  she 
shall  no  longer  have  the  means  of  harming  me.  I  have 
this  morning  given  orders  for  all  her  letters  [of  appoint- 
ments] to  be  seized,  and,  as  for  you,  I  forbid  you  either 
to  use  her  seal  or  to  seal  any  appointments  to  offices 
whatever."  Her  Chancellor,  Pibrac,  wrote  to  the  Queen 
of  Navarre  how  he  had  maintained,  in  her  defence,  that 
she  had  doubtless  been  deceived  when  she  had  written 
that  the  Huguenots  had  no  intention  of  taking  up  arms. 
But  Marguerite's  appointment  to  her  appanage  had  duly 
been  cancelled  by  the  Procureur-Geniral  du  Roi^  where- 
upon the  courageous  Pibrac,  although  in  sore  disgrace 
himself,  sought  out  the  Queen- Mother.  He  declared 
that  he  knew  perfectly  well,  from  the  documents  signed 
with  his  seal,  that  Marguerite  had  made  no  appointments 
in  Cahors,  and  begged  Catherine  de  Medicis  to  intercede 
with  her  son  to  get  the  confiscation  rescinded.  In  this 
Pibrac  was  successful,  but  the  worthy  Chancellor  did  not 
dare  to  show  his  face  again  anywhere  near  the  Louvre 
for  at  least  five  months. 

From  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  Marguerite  had 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  King  of  France  the 
order  that  Nerac,  the  place  in  which  she  herself  resided, 
should  be  considered  neutral,  with  three  leagues  of 
country  around  its  walls.  The  concession  was  made  to 
her,  upon  the  understanding  that  the  neutrality  of  N6rac 
should  exist  only  while  the  King  of  Navarre  remained 
without  its  walls. 

The  condition  was  observed  faithfully  by  both  sides, 
says  Marguerite  ;  then,  contradicting  herself,  she  adds  : 
**  But  that  did  not  prevent  that  the  King,  my  husband, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  209 

came  often  to  Nerac,  where  were  his  sister  and  1,  it 
being  in  his  nature  to  take  his  pleasure  among  ladies. 
Moreover,  he  was  at  that  time  very  much  in  love  with 
Fosseuse,  whom  he  had  continued  to  serve  since  he  had 
left  Rebours,  and  from  whom  I  never  received  any  bad 
offices.  On  that  account,  my  husband  did  not  cease 
from  living  with  me  on  such  friendly  terms  as  if  I  had 
been  his  sister,  seeing  that  I  only  sought  to  gratify  him 
in  everything." 

It  so  happened,  one  day,  that  the  B^arnais,  having 
left  the  camp  to  come  dangling  as  usual  after  Fosseuse, 
nearly  fell  into  a  trap  prepared  for  him  by  Biron.  He 
had  brought  some  troops  with  him,  but  a  skilful  feint  of 
the  Marechal  with  his  army  in  the  direction  of  a  ford  on 
the  river  Garonne  had  caused  him  to  imagine  that  Biron 
was  far  away.  No  sooner  was  Henri  de  Navarre  fondling 
the  youthful  maid  of  honour  as  usual,  than  Biron  swiftly 
returned  and  laid  siege  to  N^rac.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  very  heavy  rains  this  would  have  become  a  regular 
siege,  and  as  it  was  Biron  compelled  the  King  of  Navarre 
to  leave  the  fond  blandishments  of  Fosseuse,  to  go  out 
and  throw  his  men  into  the  vines  surrounding  the  town 
to  resist  the  attacking  force. 

The  Marechal  remained  with  all  his  army  drawn  up 
in  battle-array  in  front  of  the  city  walls,  and  within  easy 
cannot-shot  of  the  Chateau  de  N6rac.  Upon  the  battle- 
ments of  the  castle  stood  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  Catherine 
de  Bourbon,  and  their  ladies  of  honour  to  see  the  sport, 
especially  as  Biron  had  allowed  some  of  his  cavaliers  to 
detach  themselves  from  his  force,  to  come  and  request 
permission  to  engage  in  combat  for  the  honour  of  the 
ladies  under  the  walls.  In  the  meantime  the  Marechal 
de  Biron,  who  was  a  bit  of  a  practical  joker,  was  pre- 


2IO         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

paring  a  little  surprise  for  Marguerite,  which  she  little 
expected.  Masking  his  guns  with  his  troops  until  he 
had  got  them  ready  to  fire,  he  suddenly  wheeled  back 
the  men  from  in  front  of  their  muzzles  and  then,  by  way 
of  an  insult,  fired  seven  or  eight  shots  upon  the  town, 
one  cannon-ball  striking  the  battlements  upon  which 
stood  the  Princesses  and  their  ladies.  The  cannon-ball 
broke  up  into  fragments,  stone  splinters  flew  all  over  the 
place,  the  ladies  screamed  terribly  and  were  very  much 
frightened,  but  nobody  was  hurt. 

After  this  act  of  bravado  the  Marechal  completed  his 
little  pleasantry  by  sending  a  herald  with  a  trumpet  to 
the  Queen  of  Navarre,  with  ironical  excuses  for  having 
disturbed  her.  As  Marguerite  had  formerly  been  upon 
very  good  terms  with  the  Marechal  de  Biron,  who  had 
even  been  polite  enough  to  forward  to  her,  unopened,  her 
letters  which  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  although  he  now 
withdrew  his  army,  her  indignation  was  only  equalled 
by  her  surprise  at  the  insult.  She  never  forgave  him, 
although  eventually  she  consented  to  accept  his  apologies, 
personally  tendered  to  her  in  Paris. 

The  King  of  Navarre,  on  the  other  hand,  looked 
upon  the  matter  as  a  very  good  joke,  and  thought  that 
the  Marechal  had  shown  himself  a  very  smart  and  able 
soldier  by  the  manner  in  which  he  had  acted  and  out- 
witted him.  He  eventually  employed  both  Biron  and 
his  son  in  his  service,  and  was  greatly  indebted  to  the 
former  for  his  loyal  assistance  in  fighting  against  the 
League.  The  latter,  as  Due  de  Biron,  although  greatly 
beloved  by  Henri  after  he  became  King  of  France,  proved 
repeatedly  a  traitor,  whom  his  master  was  eventually 
compelled  to  cause  to  be  beheaded,  as  a  warning  to  other 
great  nobles  engaged  in  treasonable  practices. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  211 

After  this  little  surprise,  Henri  de  Navarre  remained 
for  three  days  enjoying  the  pleasant  society  at  N^rac 
before  he  too  moved  off  to  continue  his  warlike 
operations.  Towards  the  end  of  that  year,  1580,  the 
Due  d'Alen^on  suddenly  arrived  from  Flanders  to  enact 
the  part  of  peacemaker  on  behalf  of  the  King.  He  had 
been  continually  in  correspondence  with  his  sister,  who 
had  put  into  his  head  the  idea  that,  if  he  could  contrive 
to  get  his  brother  to  employ  him  in  the  matter,  he  might 
himself  profit  by  the  proposed  peace,  by  obtaining  some 
of  the  troops  engaged  on  either  side  to  join  in  his  Flemish 
expedition. 

The  mediator  was  not,  however,  allowed  to  come 
alone,  but  Catherine  de  Medicis  set  herself  in  movement 
also  and  accompanied  him,  with  her  usual  bevy  of  women, 
to  the  Chateau  de  Fleix,  in  P^rigord.  At  this  place 
the  peace  was  signed  on  November  27th,  and  by  the 
terms  the  Huguenots  profited  largely,  while  the  King  of 
Navarre  at  length  obtained  possession  of  Marguerite's 
dowry. 

While  Fran9ois,  being  considerably  backed  up  by 
the  sister  who  adored  him,  had  thus  succeeded  once  more 
in  his  negotiations,  his  brother  the  King  only  regarded 
him  with  the  greater  jealousy  on  account  of  the  success 
that  had  attended  his  efforts.  This,  however,  did  not 
trouble  either  him  or  the  Queen  of  Navarre  very 
greatly,  especially  as  Fran9ois  proceeded  to  the  pleasant 
Court  of  N^rac,  where  he  remained  while  taking  his  fill 
of  enjoyment  for  no  less  than  seven  months. 

Henri  III.,  however,  was  only  the  more  convinced, 
by  d'Alen9on's  long  delay  at  his  sister's  Court,  of  the  fact 
that  he  and  Marguerite  had  engineered  the  war  together 
for  the  sole  reason  that  Fran9ois  might  enjoy  the  glory 


212         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

of  the  peace.  His  hatred  against  both  increased,  and 
he  swore  to  his  mignons  that  he  would  yet  live  to  be  the 
ruin  of  them  both. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  the  long- 
desired  advent  of  her  brother  did  not  prove  to  be  an 
unmixed  blessing,  or  one  that  was  to  conduce  to  the 
serenity  of  a  Court  where,  until  the  arrival  of  d'Alen^on, 
all  had  gone  happy  as  a  marriage-bell.  For  the  wicked 
little  God  of  Love,  who  in  past  times  had,  in  the  matter 
of  Madame  de  Sauve,  already  stirred  up  such  unfortunate 
strife  and  contention  between  the  King  of  Navarre  and 
his  brother-in-law,  must  needs  once  again  poke  his  finger 
into  the  pie. 

Thus,  what  should  happen  but  that  Henri  de  Navarre 
should  suddenly  discover  that  the  bewitching  Fran9oise 
de  Montmorency,  she  whom  in  speaking  about  her  to  his 
wife  he  was  already  commencing  to  call  "  his  girl "  {sa 
fille)^  was  no  longer  his  alone,  but  apparently  d'Alen9on's 
girl  also.  For,  alas  !  Fran9ois  too  was  in  love  with 
Fosseuse. 

"  Unfortunately  for  me,"  says  Marguerite,  "  he 
became  deeply  enamoured  of  Fosseuse.  This  led  the 
King,  my  husband,  to  regard  me  with  ill-will,  as  he 
fancied  that  I  was  backing  up  my  brother's  suit  against 
him." 

Eventually,  with  considerable  difficulty,  for  the  sake  of 
her  own  peace  of  mind,  the  Queen  of  Navarre  contrived 
to  persuade  her  brother  to  curb  his  passion  for  the 
too  attractive  maiden,  and  to  cease  to  continue  his 
attentions  to  her.  No  sooner,  however,  had  Fortune 
been  considerate  enough  to  straighten  matters  out, 
Franfois  recovered  from  his  passion  and  Henri  de 
Navarre  been  reassured,  than  the  hitherto  docile  Fosseuse 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  213 

it  was  who  took  the  bit  between  her  teeth  and  caused 
further  trouble.  This  young  lady,  whom,  Marguerite 
remarks,  "loved  my  husband  extremely,  and  who  up 
to  this  time  had  only  allowed  him  such  familiarities  as 
might  decently  be  permitted,  to  take  away  his  jealousy  of 
my  brother,  surrendered  herself  so  completely  to  his  will 
that  she  became  enceinte."  That,  in  spite  of  her  usual 
tolerance  towards  her  husband  in  the  matter  of  his 
amours,  this  unlucky  mischance  proved  no  less  a  mis- 
fortune for  Marguerite  herself  than  for  the  hitherto 
well-behaved  Fosseuse,   is  shown  by  what  followed. 

**  Thereupon,  finding  herself  in  that  condition,  she 
changed  completely  in  her  mode  of  procedure  towards 
me  ;  instead  of  being  open  with  me  and  doing  me  all 
the  good  services  she  could  with  the  King,  my  husband, 
she  commenced  to  hide  from  me  and  to  do  me  as  many 
ill  turns  as  she  had  formerly  done  me  good  ones.  She 
cast  such  a  spell  over  the  King,  my  husband,  that  in 
a  short  time  I  found  him  completely  changed.  He 
estranged  himself  from  and  avoided  me,  and  no  longer 
showed  in  my  company  the  pleasure  that  he  had  done 
during  the  four  or  five  happy  years  that  I  had  passed 
with  him  in  Gascony,  while  Fosseuse  had  conducted 
herself  in  a  virtuous  manner." 

Eventually  Fosseuse,  in  order  to  conceal  her  con- 
dition, persuaded  the  King  to  resort  with  her  to  the 
waters  of  Aigues-Caudes,  which  are  in  B6arn,  near  Pau. 
Marguerite  flatly  refused  to  go  with  them,  averring  as  an 
excuse  that  she  could  not  again  go  to  such  a  Calvinistic 
neighbourhood.  Neither  by  flattery  nor  threats  could 
Henri  conquer  his  wife's  resistance.  At  length  the  King 
told  the  Queen  "  that  his  girl  [for  so  he  called  Fosseuse] 
required    to    go   there   to    cure   the    indigestion    which 

13 


214         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

troubled  her,  but  that  it  was  not  seemly  that  she  should 
go  there  without  me,  as  people  might  make  remarks  for 
which  there  was  no  cause.  At  length  1  arranged  that 
two  of  her  companions,  Rebours  and  Villesavin,  with  the 
governess,  should  accompany  her. 

"  They  went  off  with  him  while  I  waited  at  Baniere." 
Now  we  find  once  more  appearing  upon  the  scene 
that  malicious  girl  Rebours,  and  find  her,  moreover, 
making  every  effort  to  reinstate  herself  in  her  former 
position  of  mistress  of  Henri  de  Navarre.  She  en- 
deavours to  recapture  the  heart  of  the  B^arnais,  and  she 
does  not  hesitate  to  calumniate  both  Fosseuse  and 
Marguerite  in  her  frenzied  efforts.  Rebours  had  by  no 
means  been,  like  Fosseuse,  "  toute  enfant  et  toute  bonne  " 
when  first  she  had  fallen  into  the  arms  of  Henri ;  but  we 
will  refer  to  her  antecedents  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XX 

Fosseuse  and  Marguerite 

1581 

Mademoiselle  de  Rebours,  the  maid  of  honour  whom 
Marguerite  had  such  cause  for  disliking,  had  been  the 
mistress  of  both  the  Mar^chal  de  Montmorency  (Dam- 
ville)  and  the  Seigneur  de  Frontenac  before  she  attracted 
the  attention  of  Henri  de  Navarre.  That  this  young 
lady  was  not  devoid  of  those  attractions  that  both  enchain 
and  retain  the  heart  is  evident  from  an  existing  sonnet  in 
her  praise  in  the  Muse  chasseresse  of  Guillaume  du  Sable. 
It  was  written  by  the  poet  for  the  enamoured  Frontenac, 
and  its  quaint  verses  portray  the  undying  devotion  of  her 
lover  for  Rebours.  Perhaps  the  most  amusing  verses  are 
the  two  last,  which  speak  of  the  gallant's  *'  loyal  estomac," 
making  this  part  of  his  anatomy  the  rhyme  to  Frontenac, 
and  also  describing  it  as  the  object  of  attack  by  the  God 
of  Love. 

N'Offense  pas  ce  Dieu;  il  a  la  meme  fl^che 
Qui,  en  son  cceur,  a  fait  luire  pareille  brdche, 
Pergant  de  part  en  part  son  loyal  estomac. 

Done,  si  pour  I'avenir  tu  veux  etre  servie 
Non  pas  pour  quelque  temps,  mais  pour  toute  la  vie, 
Ne  change,  s'il  te  plait,  ton  humble  Frontenac. 
215 


2i6         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  doubt  existing  as  to 
whether  Mademoiselle  de  Rebours  was  the  daughter  of 
a  Huguenot  noble  or  of  "  a  man  of  the  robe,"  a  President 
of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  That  by  many  this  latter  was 
considered  to  be  her  father  is  proved  by  a  witty  saying 
reported  by  Lestoille,  the  point  of  the  jest  lying  in  the 
fact  that  aller  a  rebours  means  to  go  the  wrong  way. 

In  the  summer  of  1590  Henri  de  Navarre,  having  in 
the  previous  year  succeeded  to  the  Crown  of  France,  was, 
with  an  army  of  Royalists  and  Politiques,  besieging  Paris, 
then  held  by  the  troops  of  the  League.  A  cannon-ball 
from  his  army  chanced,  upon  June  i6th,  to  break  the  leg 
of  the  President  Rebours  inside  the  city  walls.  Since  this 
said  Rebours  was  considered  by  the  violent  preachers, 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  stirring  up  the  people  of  Paris, 
to  be  a  Royalist  and  a  Politique,  they  spoke  of  him 
from  the  pulpit  with  a  broad  joke  or  pun,  saying  that 
'*  les  coups  que  tiraient  les  Roiaux  allaient  tout  a  rebours." 

Of  Mademoiselle  de  Rebours  Marguerite  has  more 
to  say,  while  dealing  with  the  subject  of  the  visit  of 
Fosseuse,  in  her  company,  and  that  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  to  Aigues-Caudes  : 

*'  I  heard  daily  from  Rebours,  a  corrupt  and  double- 
faced  girl,  who  was  she  whom  he  had  formerly  loved,  and 
whose  sole  desire  was  to  oust  Fosseuse,  thinking  that  she 
would  obtain  her  place  in  the  good  graces  of  the  King,  my 
husband.  She  told  me  that  Fosseuse  was  doing  me  all 
the  bad  turns  that  she  could — continually  running  me 
down,  and  flattering  herself  that,  if  she  should  happen 
to  have  a  son,  she  would  be  able  to  get  rid  of  me,  and 
to  marry  the  King,  my  husband.  With  this  intention, 
Rebours  said  that  Fosseuse  wished  to  compel  me  to  go  to 
Pau,  and  had  caused  the  King,  my  husband,  to  deter- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  217 

mine  to  compel  me  to  go  there  by  will  or  by  force  as 
soon  as  he  should  return  to  Baniere." 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  further  informs  us  that,  upoh 
receipt  of  this  ill  news  from  the  evil-intentioned  Rebours, 
she  shed  more  tears  than  they  drank  drops  of  water  at 
Aigues-Caudes. 

It  must  be  noted  that  Marguerite  was  at  this  time 
more  or  less  alone  ;  at  all  events  she  had,  for  the  moment, 
no  particular  male  friend  at  hand  into  whose  ears  she 
could  pour  all  her  woes  in  a  delicious  intimacy.  For 
the  Vicomte  de  Turenne  had  gone  off  with  the  Due 
d'Alen9on  when  he  had  taken  his  departure,  and  the 
handsome  Harlay  de  Champvallon  had  not  as  yet  taken 
his  place  in  that  portion  of  her  anatomy  which,  like  the 
"  estomac  "  of  Frontenac,  she  considered  to  contain  her 
heart. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  was  accordingly  left  in  the 
anguish  of  doubt  alone  at  Baniere,  as  she  calls  the  place, 
and  which  is  supposed  to  be  Bagneres  or  Bavi^re,  her 
spelling  being  by  no  means  to  be  relied  on.  Above 
everything,  she  dreaded  being  forced  to  return  to  that 
city  of  penitence,  "  that  little  Geneva,"  Pau. 

As  it  happened,  however,  the  sportive  Rebours  was 
but  playing  a  game  with  the  Queen,  and  neither  Fosseuse 
nor  Henri  de  Navarre  had,  under  existing  circumstances, 
any  more  desire  to  find  themselves  in  that  Calvinistic 
centre  than  had  Marguerite  herself. 

At  the  end  of  some  six  weeks  her  fears  were  put  to 
rest.  The  party  returned  from  Aigues-Caudes,  Fosseuse 
still  sujffering  from  "  the  indigestion "  that  Henri  had 
spoken  of,  and  all  went  back  together  to  N6rac. 

At  this  place  the  chatter  of  the  Court  concerned 
scarcely  any  other  subject   than  Fosseuse  and  her  con- 


2i8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

dition  ;  but  still  the  young  maid  of  honour  made  no 
avowal  to  the  mistress  who  had  formerly  treated  her  so 
affectionately,  nor  did  she  come  to  seek  her  pardon  for 
her  indiscretion.  Being  unable  to  prevent  what  was 
going  to  happen,  Marguerite  determined,  if  possible,  at 
all  events,  to  regain  the  lost  confidence  of  her  favourite. 
She  went  to  the  child — for  Fosseuse  was  but  little  more — 
and  boldly  asked  her  to  confess  what  had  happened. 
More  than  this,  in  a  womanly  manner  she  offered  her 
her  help,  in  any  way  in  which  she  could  give  it,  in  order 
to  save  her  from  disgrace — a  disgrace  which  must  also 
reach  her  mistress.  "  I  have,"  so  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
told  Fosseuse,  *'  an  excuse  on  account  of  the  plague 
raging  even  in  this  town  for  proceeding  to  my  husband 
the  King's  house  of  Mas  d'Agenais,  which  is  situated  in 
a  very  lonely  spot.  I  will  take  you  there  with  me,  and 
with  us  only  such  companions  as  you  may  choose. 
Meanwhile  the  King,  my  husband,  will  go  off  hunting 
elsewhere,  whence  he  will  not  return  until  after  your 
delivery  ;  and  in  this  way  we  shall  smother  up  this 
scandal,  which  affects  me  as  much  as  yourself." 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  Fosseuse,  touched 
by  this  kindness  on  the  part  of  the  Queen,  would  have 
burst  into  tears,  fallen  at  her  feet,  and  begged  her 
forgiveness.  Far  from  doing  so,  the  little  wretch  took 
a  different  line  altogether,  flew  into  a  rage,  shouted  at 
the  Queen,  and  denied  everything.  Finally  she  bounced 
off  in  a  tantrum  to  find  the  King  of  Navarre,  to  whom 
she  complained  that  Marguerite  was  taking  her  character 
away  in  the  most  abominable  manner,  with  the  result  that 
Henri's  anger,  too,  was  kindled  against  his  wife. 

A  French  author  of  the  last  century,  commenting 
upon  the  whole  of  this  part  of  the  story  of  Fosseuse, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  219 

considers  it  to  have  been  carefully  written  for  effect,  from 
the  way  the  words  are  chosen  in  Marguerite's  Memoirs  ; 
he  also  considers  that  the  conduct  of  Fosseuse,  in  flying 
into  a  temper  and  denying  everything,  shows  her  as  a 
worthy  adversary  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre.  He  points 
out  that,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the  bold 
offers  of  Marguerite  are  no  less  impossible  in  real  life 
than  they  would  be  in  a  novel  or  on  the  stage. 

Finally,  he  very  particularly  asks  the  question  whether 
Fosseuse  merely  shrank  from  an  avowal  of  her  shame,  or 
if  there  were  not  something  else  behind.  We  also  may 
conjecture — did  not  she,  in  good  sooth,  recall  when,  being 
offered  the  opportunity  of  being  taken  off  to  the  Queen's 
house  of  love-making  rendezvous,  the  fact  that  the 
Princess  making  the  offer  to  conduct  her  to  the  lonely 
mansion  was  a  M6dicis  and  a  Valois  ?  Might  not  these 
smiles,  these  caresses  from  the  Royal  rival's  lips  at  N6rac 
have  foretold  a  vision  of  a  dagger  or  a  cup  of  poison 
awaiting  the  lovely  and  undefended  young  creature  at 
Mas  d'Agenais  ? 

It  may  well  have  been  terror  which  caused  the  raised 
tones,  the  angry  denial  of  Fosseuse,  fear  which  caused 
her  to  run  off  for  protection  to  the  King  of  Navarre. 
For  how  could  Fosseuse  have  been  so  long  about  the 
Court  of  either  Paris  or  N6rac  and  not  have  heard  of 
the  death  of  Du  Guast,  nor  what  people  said  as  to  who 
had  guided  the  hand  of  his  assassin  ? 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  fears  or  the  feelings  of 
Fosseuse  with  regard  to  a  possible  visit  to  Mas  d'Agenais, 
it  is  evident  that  at  N^rac,  with  Henri  at  hand  to  protect 
her,  she  felt  herself  safe.  Accordingly  she  gave  herself 
airs,  and  informed  Marguerite  arrogantly  that  she  had 
known  for  some  time  past  that  the  Queen  had  ceased 


220         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

to  love  her,  and  that  she  only  sought  a  pretext  to  ruin 
her.  The  angry  girl  also  said  that  she  would  make  all 
those  who  accused  her  swallow  the  lie.  When  Henri 
came  in  in  turn  to  fight  the  battle  for  "  his  girl,"  he  sang 
in  the  same  key  to  his  wife,  and  that  it  was  only  a  very 
ridiculous  and  false  key  he  was  compelled  humbly  to 
avow  to  her  when  the  inevitable  moment  for  Fosseuse 
had  at  length  arrived. 

Marguerite  relates  the  story  in  great  detail  ;  how  the 
doctor  came  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  informed 
the  King  that  Fosseuse  was  taken  with  the  pains  of  child- 
birth, and  how  he  in  turn,  taking  the  bull  by  the  horns, 
avowed  to  the  Queen  of  Navarre  that  he  had  been  telling 
her  nothing  but  a  pack  of  lies,  for  which  he  now  was 
sorry.  Then  he  ended  up  with  the  calm  request  that 
Marguerite  should  rise  from  her  bed  and  go  to  Fosseuse 
in  her  trouble.  Then,  was  ever  wifely  devotion  seen 
to  equal  that  of  Marguerite  ?  Hardly,  we  should  think, 
has  it  ever  been  carried  to  such  a  lengtn.  Let  us  see 
how  she  replied  to  Henri. 

"  I  replied  that  I  honoured  him  too  much  to  take 
anything  amiss  that  came  from  him  ;  that  I  would  go  to 
her  and  behave  to  her  as  if  she  were  my  own  daughter  ; 
but  meanwhile  he  must  go  off  hunting,  and  take  every  one 
with  him,  so  that  nothing  should  be  heard  about  the 
matter." 

Marguerite  at  once  caused  the  patient  to  be  removed 
from  the  room  of  the  maids  of  honour  to  a  separate 
chamber,  with  the  doctor  and  some  women  to  wait  upon 
her,  and  remained  in  person  to  see  the  poor  girl  through 
her  trouble.  But,  at  last,  the  childless  Queen  of  Navarre 
cries  triumphantly  :  "  God  willed  that  it  was  only  a  girl, 
and  that,  moreover,  it  was  stillborn," 


CHAPTER   XXI 

The  End  of  Fosseuse 

1582 

If  ever  a  man,  be  he  Prince  or  peasant,  can  be  accused  of 
behaving  in  an  unreasonable  manner,  then  surely  that 
man  was  Henri  de  Navarre  upon  the  evening  after  the 
accouchement  of  Fosseuse.  When  he  had  disturbed  his 
wife  during  the  preceding  night,  and,  after  remarking  to 
her,  "  You  know  how  dearly  I  love  Fosseuse,"  blandly 
requested  her  assistance  in  the  delicate  matter  on  hand, 
Marguerite  had  cheerfully  complied  with  her  husband's 
wishes. 

But  he  was  not  satisfied.  Upon  his  return  in  the 
evening  from  hunting,  after  first  going  to  see  Fosseuse, 
he  sought  his  wife  in  her  chamber,  where  she,  being 
perfectly  tired  out,  had  gone  to  bed.  Henri  then  calmly 
requested  her  to  get  up  again,  to  go  and  visit  the  girl 
once  more,  suggesting  that,  by  so  doing,  she  would  cause 
all  the  scandal  which  was  about  the  palace  to  cease. 

Marguerite,  we  are  glad  to  say,  had  too  much  spirit 
to  do  anything  of  the  sort.  She  replied  that  she  had 
gone  when  it  had  been  necessary,  and  then  done  every- 
thing that  had  been  in  her  power,  but  that  now  no  more 
should  be  required  from  her,  and  that  she  was  in  bed  and 
would  stay  there. 

221 


222         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Thereupon  the  King  of  Navarre  became  very  angry  ; 
while  Marguerite,  on  her  side,  was  extremely  hurt  at  the 
ingratitude  which  he  displayed,  an  ingratitude  which  was 
shared  by  Fosseuse,  who  frequently  afterwards  incited 
Henri  to  get  into  fits  of  petulant  temper  with  the  mistress 
jvho  had  done  so  much  for  her. 

In  any  case,  the  happy  days  for  Marguerite  at  N6rac 
were  now  at  an  end,  and  those  of  her  departure  at  hand. 
Her  brother,  the  King,  had  for  long  past  thought  it  time 
to  break  up  the  friendly  relations  which  had  existed 
between  his  sister  and  her  husband  ;  but,  as  we  know, 
he  had  signally  failed  in  the  matter  of  the  Vicomte  de 
Turenne.  He  now  instigated  his  mother  to  do  all  that 
lay  in  her  power  to  induce  Marguerite  to  return  to  the 
Court  of  France. 

Catherine  de  M6dicis  accordingly  wrote  several  letters 
to  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  representing  that  several  years 
had  now  elapsed  since  she  had  seen  her  daughter,  who 
surely  ought  to  be  able  to  spare  the  time  to  come  and 
pay  her  a  visit.  The  better  to  induce  her  to  come, 
Henri  III.  sent  his  sister  the  large  sum  of  fifteen  thousand 
crowns,  wherewith  to  defray  her  travelling  expenses. 

Catherine  at  the  same  time  wrote  that  she  would 
come  as  far  as  the  province  of  Saintonge  to  meet 
Marguerite ;  that  is  to  say,  two-thirds  of  the  distance 
from  Paris  to  the  dominions  of  Navarre,  and  she  requested 
her  daughter  to  persuade  her  husband  to  accompany  her 
to  meet  her  there. 

Marguerite  saw  perfectly  well  through  the  real  motives 
which  prompted  this  return  of  tenderness  on  her  brother's 
part.  Nevertheless,  although  it  was  without  any  con- 
fidence, it  was  likewise  without  any  feeling  of  repugnance 
that  she  allowed  herself  to  be  moved  by  the  letters  gf 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  223 

her  brother  and  her  mother,  and  decided,  for  her  own 
reasons,  to  leave  N6rac,  where  all  had  become  insipid 
and  displeasing.  In  Paris,  although  she  does  not  mention 
the  fact,  she  would  meet  again  the  handsome  Harlay 
de  Champvallon,  whose  acquaintance  she  had  made  in 
the  suite  of  her  brother  Frangois  not  long  before. 
This  pleasant  anticipation  was,  doubtless,  a  set-ofF  in 
her  mind  against  the  fact  that  she  understood  not  only 
that  her  brother  was  seeking  some  more  easy  way  of 
wreaking  his  vengeance  upon  her  than  he  could  attain 
while  she  was  at  a  distance,  but  that  he  wished  to  learn 
from  her  the  secret  chronicle  of  all  that  went  on  in  the 
Court  of  Navarre.  Both  Henri  III.  and  the  Queen- 
Mother  likewise,  she  knew,  wished  to  make  of  her  once 
more,  as  at  the  time  of  the  Massacre  of  Saint-Bartholomew, 
the  lure  wherewith  to  attract  the  King  of  Navarre  and 
the  Huguenots  to  Paris. 

From  the  time  when  she  took  this  journey,  which 
was  in  the  year  1582,  Marguerite  has  very  prudently 
suppressed  those  interesting  records  of  her  life,  which, 
coloured  as  they  doubtless  were  so  as  to  throw  the  light 
she  required  over  the  various  events  they  describe,  have 
proved  such  an  invaluable  fund  for  the  historian  to  draw 
upon  ever  since  her  day. 

Since  it  will  be  for  the  last  time  that  we  shall  be  able 
to  consult  with  the  Queen  of  Navarre  in  person,  we  will 
give  her  final  paragraphs  verbatim,  by  which  it  will  be 
noticed  that  she  contrived  to  get  even  with  both  her 
husband  and  Fosseuse  for  their  ingratitude  by  taking 
away  "  his  girl "  with  her,  which,  as  she  belonged  to  her 
suite,  she  had  of  course  a  perfect  right  to  do. 

"  For  the  King  was  very  anxious  to  withdraw  the 
King,  my  husband,  from  Gascon y,  in  order  to  be  able  to 


224         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

keep  him  at  the  Court  in  the  same  position  that  he  and 
my  brother  formerly  occupied  ;  and  the  Marechal  de 
Matignon,  being  desirous  of  obtaining  the  supreme 
command  in  Gascony,  was  persuading  him  to  do  this. 

"All  these  fine  appearances  of  goodwill  did  not 
deceive  me  as  to  what  was  to  be  expected  from  a  return 
to  the  Court,  as  I  had  experienced  in  the  past  how  much 
they  were  worth.  I  determined,  however,  to  draw  profit 
from  his  coffers,  and  to  go  only  for  a  few  months,  so 
that  I  might  arrange  both  my  own  affairs  and  those  of 
the  King,  my  husband.  1  also  thought  that  it  would 
serve  to  divert  his  love  from  Fosseuse,  whom  I  was  taking 
away  with  tne^  in  order  that  my  husband,  seeing  her  no 
longer,  might  make  a  start  as  soon  as  possible  with  some 
other  woman,  who  would  not  show  herself  so  inimical 
to  me. 

"  I  had  sufficient  trouble  in  inducing  the  King,  my 
husband,  to  consent  to  my  taking  Fosseuse  with  me  upon 
this  journey  ;  it  annoyed  him  that  she  should  leave  after 
there  had  been  so  much  scandal  concerning  him  with  her. 
He  became  in  consequence  much  kinder  to  me,  trying 
very  hard  to  induce  me  to  change  my  intention  of 
returning  to  France." 

Marguerite,  however,  proved  inflexible.  She  had 
written  to  give  her  promise,  she  had  pocketed  her 
brother's  fifteen  thousand  crowns,  she  wished  to  remove 
her  husband's  troublesome  young  mistress  from  his  side, 
and,  above  all,  she  wished  once  again  to  gladden  her  eyes 
with  a  glimpse  of,  what  was  then  the  centre  of  European 
civilisation  and  luxury,  the  Court  of  France.  Thus  she 
concludes  her  diary  with  the  following  words  :  "  The 
evil  fate  which  was  luring  me  to  the  Court  triumphed 
over  the  disinclination  that  I  felt  to  repair  thither  just 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  245 

as  the  King,  my  husband,  was  beginning  to  treat  me  with 
more  affection." 

So  Marguerite  went  off  on  her  journey  and  took 
Fosseuse  with  her,  while  Henri  de  Navarre,  resolved 
to  see  as  much  as  possible  of  his  young  favourite,  accom- 
panied the  couple.  The  departure  from  N^rac  took 
place  at  the  beginning  of  February  1582,  and  the  journey 
was  most  leisurely.  Marguerite  being  accompanied  by 
many  wagon-loads  of  boxes  and  trunks.  At  every 
chateau  and  city  the  Royal  couple  were  most  hospitably 
received,  a  considerable  stay  being  made  with  the  Prince 
de  Cond6  at  Saint-Jean-d'Angely,  in  Saintonge. 

Having  recruited  a  regular  army  of  gentlemen  as 
escort,  the  greater  number  of  whom  were  Protestants, 
they  were  met  in  state  in  the  middle  of  March  by  the 
Marechal  Jacques  de  Matignon,  by  the  order  of  the  King 
of  France.  At  the  end  of  that  month  they  found  the 
Queen-Mother  waiting  to  receive  them  at  La  Mothe- 
Saint-H6raye,  where  Catherine  de  M^dicis  was  being 
royally  entertained,  with  all  her  Flying  Squadron,  in 
the  castle  belonging  to  Lusignan,  Seigneur  de  Lansac, 
who  was  her  Superintendent  of  Finances. 

The  meeting  between  Henri  de  Navarre  and  his 
mother-in-law  was  amicable,  but  it  did  not  bring  about 
the  results  which  Catherine  desired.  There  was  the 
usual  contention  between  her  and  her  son-in-law  on  the 
question  of  the  delivery  by  the  Huguenots  of  the  places 
of  surety  ;  moreover,  Henri  flatly  refused. to  return  with 
the  Queen-Mother  to  Paris.  He  went,  however,  a  little 
further  with  the  two  Queens,  and  then  left  them,  after 
taking  a  last  tender  farewell  of  Fosseuse.  Marguerite  and 
her  mother  did  not  reach  the  Court  until  the  end  of 
May  1582. 


226         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

In  order  to  keep  the  fair  young  sinner  out  of  the 
way  of  the  King  of  Navarre  in  the  future,  means  were 
eventually  taken  to  dispose  of  the  hand  of  Fosseuse  in 
marriage  to  a  certain  Saint-Marc,  Seigneur  de  Broc. 
After  marriage,  which  in  those  days  was  too  often  but  the 
prelude  to  further  levity  of  conduct  on  the  part  of  young 
ladies  of  the  Court,  Fosseuse  sunk  into  oblivion,  and 
caused  no  further  scandal  in  connection  with  her  name. 

Although,  upon  leaving  the  two  Queens,  the  King 
of  Navarre  had  marched  off  with  his  following  to  La 
Rochelle,  there  to  seek  for  consolation  with  some  of  the 
other  pretty  sinners  mentioned  in  the  early  pages  of  this 
work,  he  by  no  means  forgot  his  Fosseuse  before 
Marguerite  finally  contrived  to  get  rid  of  the  girl  by 
handing  her  over  to  a  husband.  This  was  not  without 
her  having  had  further  trouble  concerning  her,  and  the 
interest  which  the  King,  her  husband,  still  continued 
to  take  in  his  wife's  maid  of  honour  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  he  sent  the  Sieur  de  Frontenac  formally  to  complain 
and  express  his  displeasure  to  Marguerite  when,  acting 
on  her  mother's  advice,  she  sent  Fosseuse  away  from  the 
Court.  This  action  brought  down  upon  Henri  the  wrath, 
not  only  of  his  wife  and  the  Queen-Mother,  but  resulted 
in  his  receiving  angry  letters  from  both  of  them.  That 
from  Catherine  de  M6dicis  can  indeed  be  looked  upon  in 
no  other  light  than  of  a  severe  dressing-down  administered 
to  her  son-in-law. 

We  now  no  longer  find  in  Marguerite  the  former 
complaisant  spouse,  and  one  would  be  inclined  to  think 
that  even  Henri  de  Navarre  must  have  realised  that  he 
had  gone  a  little  too  far  when  he  received  his  wife's 
spirited  letter,  which  ran  as  follows  : 

"  You  say  that  there  will  be  no  shame  in  my  com- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  227 

plying  with  your  request.  I  believe  it,  also  thinking  you 
reasonable  enough  not  to  command  me  to  do  anything 
unbefitting  a  person  of  my  quality,  nor  affecting  my 
honour,  in  which  you  have  too  much  interest.  But  if 
you  should  request  me  to  keep  with  me  a  girl  by  whom, 
in  the  eyes  of  everybody,  you  have  had  a  child,  you 
would  find  that,  both  by  the  indignity  you  would  do  me 
and  the  reputation  which  I  should  earn,  it  would  be  a 
shameful  action. 

"  You  write  to  me  that,  in  order  to  shut  the  mouths 
of  the  King,  the  two  Queens,  or  of  those  who  should 
speak  to  me  on  the  subject,  I  should  reply  to  them  that 
you  love  her,  and  that,  on  that  account,  I  love  her  also. 
That  reply  would  be  all  very  well  if  speaking  of  one  of 
your  servitors  or  female  servants,  but  of  a  mistress  !  .  .  . 
I  have  suffered  that  which  I  will  not  say  no  Princess,  but 
no  simple  young  lady  should  suffer,  having  succoured 
her,  hidden  her  fault,  and  ever  since  kept  her  by  me. 
If  you  do  not  call  that  contenting  you,  1  should  like  to 
know  what  you  call  it  ?  " 

Catherine  de  M^dicis  conveyed  her  violent  reproof 
in  a  letter  of  much  greater  length  ;  we  will  dip  into  the 
middle  of  it. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  occasion  you  had  to  do  this, 
bearing  in  mind  that  when  you  separated  you  said  that 
you  were  saying  good-bye  to  Fosseuse  as  to  one  whom 
you  had  no  hope  of  seeing  again,  and  you  know  that  it 
was  only  reasonable  to  send  her  to  her  mother,  seeing 
that  she  had  been  so  crazy  as  to  abandon  herself  to  you. 
For  you  are  not  the  first  husband  young  and  not  very 
wise  in  such  matters,  but  I  certainly  find  you  the  first, 
after  such  a  thing  happening,  to  hold  the  language  you 
do  to  your  wife.     I   had  the  honour  of  espousing  the 


228         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

King,  my  lord  and  your  Sovereign,  whose  daughter  you 
have  espoused  ;  but  the  one  thing  of  which  he  (Henri  II.) 
was  the  most  vexed  was  when  I  learned  any  news  of  this 
description  ;  and  when  he  found  that  Madame  de  Flamin 
was  with  child  he  considered  it  perfectly  correct  that  she 
should  be  sent  away.  And  never  did  he  draw  a  long 
face  nor  use  the  rough  side  of  his  tongue  about  it.  Again, 
with  Madame  de  Valentinois  [Diane  de  Poitiers],  it  was, 
as  with  Madame  d'Etampes  [Anne  de  Pisseleu,  mistress 
of  Francois  I.],  all  in  honour,  but  of  those  who  were 
such  fools  as  to  let  fly  everywhere  the  reports  of  it  all,  he 
would  have  been  excessively  annoyed  if  I  had  still  kept 
them  by  me.  And  if  he  was  my  King,  and  yours,  this 
is  my  daughter  and  the  sister  of  your  King,  who,  if  you 
will  but  consider  the  matter,  serves  you  more  than  you 
think,  and  who  loves  and  honours  you  as  if  she  had  had 
as  much  honour  in  marrying  you  as  if  you  had  been  a 
son  of  France  and  she  a  subject.  It  is  not  the  way  to 
treat  women  of  quality,  and,  belonging  to  such  a  House, 
to  insult  them  in  conformity  to  the  wishes  of  a  common 
prostitute.  For  all  the  world,  not  France  alone,  knows 
about  her  child,  of  which  you  were  the  father. 

"  Then,  too,  for  a  presumptuous  and  impudent  little 
gallant  [Frontenac]  to  have  dared  to  have  accepted  from 
his  master  such  a  command,  and  to  speak  to  her 
[Marguerite]  in  such  a  way  !  Indeed,  I  cannot  believe 
that  he  comes  from  you,  for,  after  all,  you  are  too  well 
born,  and  of  the  same  House  of  which  she  is  the  issue 
[both  Henri  and  Marguerite  were  descendants  of 
Charles  V.],  not  to  know  how  you  ought  to  live  with 
the  daughter  of  your   King,  and  sister  of  he  who   at 

this   present    time   commands    both    this   Kingdom   and 

it 
you. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  ^29 

It  will  be  noticed,  in  the  above,  how  often  Catherine 
seeks  to  put  the  King  of  Navarre  in  what  she  considers 
his  proper  place,  speaking  of  Henri  III.  as  "  his 
Sovereign."  She  should  have  merely  said  his  Suzerain, 
for  the  Principality  of  Albret,  for  of  the  ancient  Kingdom 
of  Navarre  Henri  was  the  legitimate  and  independent 
ruler,  without  any  reference  whatever  to  the  Court  of 
France,  any  more  than  to  that  of  Spain.  In  the  latter 
country  the  greater  part  of  Navarre  lay,  until  torn  from 
King  Jean  d'Albret  and  Queen  Catherine  de  Foix  by 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in   1512. 

One  of  the  constant  causes  of  annoyance  of  Henri 
with  his  wife  was  the  fact  that  she  was  in  the  habit  of 
asserting  to  herself  a  higher  lineage,  as  a  daughter  of 
France,  than  his  own  as  a  King  of  Navarre  ;  and  yet 
they  were  cousins,  their  common  great-grandfather  having 
been  Charles,  Comte  d'Angouleme,  who  died  in  1496, 
and  whose  great-grandfather  had  been  Charles  V.,  who 
died  in  1380. 

In  diving  once  more,  further  on,  into  Catherine's 
lengthy  letter  of  reprimand,  we  find  her  having  another 
fly  out  at  Fosseuse,  saying  that  she  has  counselled  her 
daughter  to  lose  no  time,  but  to  fling  out  "  this  pretty 
little  beast." 

"  For,"  she  adds,  *'  so  long  as  I  live,  I  will  suff*er 
nothing  to  prevent  or  diminish  the  friendship  of  those 
who  are  as  near  to  me  as  she  [Marguerite]  is.  I  beg  you, 
therefore,  after  this  fine  messenger  of  a  Frontenac  shall 
have  told  you  all  that  he  can  to  put  you  against  your  wife, 
to  become  yourself  once  more,  to  consider  the  harm  you 
have  done  yourself  by  listening  to  their  advice,  and  to 
return  to  the  proper  path.  That  will  oblige  you  to  love 
us  more,  and  believe  that  the  King  and  we  all  do  love  you. 

14 


230         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

And  as  much  as  I  have  told  the  Sieur  de  Curton,  whom  I 
send  to  you,  I  shall  expect  him  to  inform  you  of,  but  I 
will  just  inform  you  of  this,  that  this  self-sufficient  fellow 
of  a  Frontenac  has  told  all  Paris  that  if  Fosseuse  goes 
away  you  will  never  come  to  the  Court.  From  this  you 
will  perhaps  be  able  to  understand  how  wise  it  is,  or  how 
it  affects  your  honour  and  reputation,  to  bring  about,  out 
of  a  youthful  folly,  that  which  may  cause  a  result  affecting 
the  good  welfare  and  repose  of  this  Kingdom,  and  you 
above  all,  who,  for  your  own  private  passion,  will  bring 
constant  trouble  upon  your  own  head." 

Truly  Catherine  de  Medicis  was  in  a  terrible  rage 
when  she  delivered  herself  in  this  manner  to  the  King  of 
Navarre  ;  and,  had  her  daughter  been  other  than  what  she 
was,  we  should  have  been  inclined  thoroughly  to  sym- 
pathise with  the  outraged  mother's  feelings. 

All  this  time,  however,  as  the  Court  well  knew.  Mar- 
guerite, far  from  enacting  the  part  of  a  virtuous  wife, 
was  carrying  on  an  af!air  with  the  handsome  Harlay  de 
Champvallon,  whom  she  had  met  at  Cadillac,  and  to 
whom  she  was,  when  he  was  not  present,  writing  the 
most  impassioned  love-letters,  in  the  stilted  style  then 
known  as  "  pure  Ph6bus." 


CHAPTER   XXII 

Marguerite  and  Champvallon 

1580— 1583 

Upon  her  first  return  to  the  Court  of  France  Mar- 
guerite had  no  cause  to  complain  of  her  reception.  She 
was  on  good  terms  with  her  mother,  whose  protection 
was  alone  a  shield  to  her  daughter  against  the  ill-will 
of  the  King.  Henri  III.,  however,  had  his  own  reasons 
at  first  for  keeping  on  good  terms  with  his  sister  :  he 
wished  her  to  draw  her  husband  after  her  to  Paris,  and, 
to  please  him,  she  frequently  wrote  to  the  King  of 
Navarre,  urging  him  to  come,  which  he  very  wisely 
declined  to  do. 

Marguerite  was,  however,  very  careful  not  to  trust 
herself  within  the  walls  of  the  Louvre.  Having  been 
considerably  in  want  of  money,  she  had  urged  her  Chan- 
cellor, de  Pibrac,  not  long  before,  to  buy  from  her  a 
palace  called  the  Hotel  d'Anjou.  Although  grumbling  a 
bit,  her  faithful  old  servant  had  purchased  this  hotel,  at 
a  large  figure,  just  to  oblige  his  mistress.  He  made  a 
bad  bargain,  as,  although  he  contrived  to  get  rid  of  it 
again,  to  the  Duchesse  de  Longueville,  Pibrac  was  com- 
pelled to  do  so  at  a  considerable  loss. 

Being  in  want  of  a  residence,  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
bought,    in   June    1582,    a   magnificent   hotel  from    the 

231 


232         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

Chancellor  Birague  or  Birago,  an  Italian  who  had  come 
to  France  in  the  suite  of  Catherine  de  Medicis.  In  this 
palace  Marguerite  installed  herself  in  great  luxury,  which 
the  generosity  of  her  brother,  and  especially  of  her 
mother,  enabled  her  to  do.  Catherine  had  recently 
profited  largely  by  the  liberality  of  her  son,  who  had 
bestowed  upon  her  several  Duchies  and  Seigneuries, 
including  those  of  Orleans  and  Valois.  She  now 
bestowed  in  turn,  with  the  permission  of  the  King,  the 
splendid  Duchy  of  Valois  and  the  Counties  of  Senhs, 
Clermont,  and  Etampes  upon  her  daughter  the  Queen 
of  Navarre. 

While  Marguerite  continued  to  write  to  her  husband, 
to  urge  him  to  come  to  the  Court,  where  it  would  seem 
that  the  King  desired  his  presence  more  as  a  buffer  against 
the  Guise  faction  than  for  any  other  reason,  she  also  kept 
the  King  of  Navarre  well  posted  as  to  everything  that 
went  on  affecting  his  interests  or  those  of  his  partisans. 
Thus  the  King  and  Queen  of  Navarre  remained  upon 
most  excellent  terms  until  the  quarrel  occurred  con- 
cerning Fosseuse,  the  details  of  which  have  been  given. 

After  this  event  the  old  terms  of  intimacy  appear 
to  have  slackened,  but  another  cause  for  the  partial 
cessation  of  their  interest  in  each  other  lay  in  the  fact 
that  the  affections  of  both  husband  and  wife  were 
deeply  engaged  elsewhere.  While  Marguerite  was  now 
passionately  in  love  with  Harlay  de  Champvallon,  Henri 
had  now  plunged  deeply  into  his  amour  with  the  beautiful 
Comtesse  de  Gramont  et  Guiche,  who  is  best  known  to 
history  as  La  belle  Corisande. 

We  will  refer  to  this  amiable  lady  later,  after  first 
devoting  a  few  words  to  the  latest  lover  of  the  Queen 
of  Navarre.     It  was   in    the   year    1580   that   a   young 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  233 

gentleman  named  Jacques  de  Harlay,  Baron  de  Champ- 
vallon,  came  to  the  Court  of  Navarre  in  the  train  of 
Fran9ois,  Due  d'Alengon.  At  first  he  paid  no  attention 
to  the  charms  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  for  the  very 
good  reason  that  his  thoughts  were  elsewhere,  he  having 
fixed  his  affections  upon  one  of  her  waiting-ladies, 
eighteen  years  of  age,  named  the  Comtesse  Suzanne  de 
Luze. 

Marguerite,  on  her  side,  had  not  lost  much  time  in 
being  attracted  by  the  youthful  grace  of  Champvallon, 
who  appears  to  have  been  the  handsomest  man  of  his 
day  in  France.  She  saw  him  often  with  his  lady-love, 
and  became  inspired  with  the  desire  of  replacing  her 
maid  of  honour  in  his  heart.  Not  being  overburdened 
with  an  excess  of  modesty,  the  Queen  caused  le  beau 
Champvallon  to  be  informed  of  the  honour  which  she 
proposed  to  bestow  upon  him.  To  her  surprise,  she 
was  informed  of  the  contemptuous  reply  made  by  Harlay, 
which  was  to  the  effect  that  what  was  good  enough  for 
everybody  else  was  not  good  enough  for  him. 

Far  fi-om  being  turned  from  her  object  by  this  insult, 
upon  learning  how  her  advances  had  been  rejected  with 
scorn,  Marguerite's  passion  increased.  That  which  had 
merely  been  a  caprice  now  became  an  ardent  desire, 
which  she  determined  to  gratify,  no  matter  by  what 
means.  Absolutely  unscrupulous,  she  made  of  the  young 
Comtesse  herself  the  means  by  which  she  was  to  lure 
her  lover.  Suzanne  was  ordered  by  her  mistress  to 
write  an  invitation  to  Champvallon  to  a  tete-a-tete 
supper  party.  Upon  his  arrival  the  gallant  found  a  third 
convive  at  the  feast,  in  the  person  of  the  Queen  of 
Navarre,  arrayed  for  conquest.  Suzanne  was  speedily 
put  into  a  state  of  torpid  slumber  by  means  of  drugged 


234         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

wine,  after  which  the  Queen  of  Navarre  found  ahiple 
opportunity  of  asking  Harlay  the  question  as  to  whether 
or  no  it  was  true  that  he  found  her  so  very  repulsive. 

Apparently  the  young  Baron  de  Champvallon  was 
sufficiently  a  courtier  to  know  how  to  give  the  proper 
reply  ;  for  on  the  following  day  the  unhappy  Suzanne 
de  Luze  received  the  order  to  return  to  her  mother's 
chateau  in  Auvergne. 

The  amours  of  Marguerite  and  Harlay  were  in- 
terrupted after  a  few  months  of  bliss,  but  they  were 
renewed  after  the  young  Queen  had  installed  herself 
in  the  splendid  residence  which  she  had  bought  in  Paris 
from  the  Chancellor  de  Birague.  Hitherto  Marguerite, 
greatly  to  her  distress,  had  been  deprived  of  the  felicity 
of  presenting  her  husband  with  an  heir.  Now,  however, 
she  was  able  to  cry  quits  with  Henri  de  Navarre  for  what 
had  happened  with  Fosseuse,  for,  by  Champvallon,  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  became  the  mother  of  a  son,  born  on 
April  20th,   1583. 

This  son  was  at  first  brought  up,  under  the  name 
of  Louis  de  Vaux,  by  a  perfumer  of  Paris.  Later  he 
became  an  intriguing  monk,  known  by  the  name  of 
le  P^re  Ange,  or  le  Pere  Archange.  Then,  in  the  capacity 
of  confessor  and  spiritual  director  to  the  Marquise  de 
Verneuil,  the  neglected  mistress  of  Henri  IV.,  he  became 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  agents  of  that  conspiracy 
of  vengeance  which  resulted  in  the  King's  death  under  the 
dagger  of  Ravaillac. 

Strange  and  tragic  indeed  was  the  fatality  by  which 
the  unlawful  son  of  Marguerite  should  become  linked 
with  the  enemies  of  her  former  husband,  to  aid  in  taking 
from  him  at  the  same  time  his  crown  and  his  life. 

To  return  to  the  year  1582.     When  Marguerite  had 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  235 

not  been  very  long  in  Paris,  in  fact  at  the  very  time 
that  she  was  taking  such  a  very  high  hand  in  the  affair 
about  Fosseuse  in  her  letter  to  her  husband,  she  was 
suffering  terrible  pangs,  owing  to  the  infidelity  of  her 
adored  Champvallon.  Possibly  because  he  feared  the 
anger  of  the  King,  he  now  began  to  think  of  taking 
a  wife,  and,  in  fact,  at  the  end  of  August  obtained  the 
hand  of  a  very  great  lady.  This  was  Catherine  de  la 
Marck,  Dame  de  Breval,  the  daughter  of  Robert  de  la 
Marck,  Due  de  Bouillon.  In  the  previous  year  Mar- 
guerite had  herself  proposed  a  wife  to  her  lover,  in  the 
shape  of  "  a  widow,  an  honest  woman  having  thirty 
thousand  livres  yearly  and  two  hundred  thousand  livres 
in  the  bank." 

Harlay  had  not,  however,  cared  about  being  saddled 
with  this  middle-aged  widow,  who  had  two  children,  but 
preferred  to  select  his  wife  for  himself,  with  the  result 
that  when  the  Queen  of  Navarre  learned  of  his  marriage 
she  had  a  sad  attack  of  jealousy,  and  wrote  to  Harlay  as 
follows  : 

"  There  is,  then,  neither  justice  left  in  heaven  nor 
fidelity  upon  earth  !  Triumph  of  my  too  ardent  love  ! 
Boast  of  having  deceived  me !  laugh  at  it  and  make 
sport  of  it  with  her  from  whom  I  receive  this  sole  con- 
solation, that  her  want  of  merit  will  bring  you  the  just 
remorse  of  the  wrong  you  have  done.  .  .  .  Upon  receiving 
this  letter,  the  last  from  me,  I  beg  you  to  return  it,  for  I 
do  not  choose  that,  in  the  pretty  interview  that  you  will 
have  this  evening,  it  shall  serve  to  the  father  and  the 
daughter  as  a  subject  of  mirth  at  my  expense." 

In  spite  of  his  marriage,  the  intimacy  with  Champ- 
vallon continued,  and  it  is  written  about  at  length  both 
by  the  malicious  German  Ambassador,  Busbecq  and  by 


236         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

d'Aubign6.  This  latter  says  that  he  once  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  interrupt  in  person,  at  Cadillac,  a  very  com- 
promising tete-d-tete  between  the  Queen  of  Navarre  and 
Harlay  de  Champvallon,  and  that  this  resulted  in  his 
earning  her  eternal  hatred,  and  his  having  to  suffer  in 
consequence  upon  many  occasions.  If  Marguerite  hated 
d'Aubign6  for  what  was  in  all  probability  a  piece  of 
ill-timed  curiosity  on  his  part,  the  historian  was,  however, 
quite  able  to  look  after  himself,  and,  by  many  a  quip  and 
an  impudent  hon  mot,  to  pay  his  Royal  mistress  back 
as  good  as  she  gave.  We  need,  therefore,  waste  no  sym- 
pathy on  the  worthy  Agrippa  for  the  "various  disgraces" 
which  he  tells  us  that  Marguerite  caused  him  to  undergo. 

Previous  to  the  time  when  Marguerite  received  the 
fatal  tidings  of  Champvallon's  marriage  she  had  been  full 
of  apprehension.  At  that  date  she  wrote  to  him  :  "  Mon 
Dieu  !  my  dear  life,  can  I  live  in  apprehension  of  that 
misfortune  of  which  I  daily  hear  some  new  rumour  }  I 
am  in  despair,  I  die  a  thousand  and  a  thousand  times. 
No  criminal  ever  hears  his  sentence  with  more  impatience, 
rage,  and  mortal  pain,  than  I  wait  for  the  news  of  this 
battle  in  which  awaits  me  the  hour  or  the  misery  of 
my  life  in  the  preservation  or  the  end  of  your  own." 

After  his  marriage,  when  her  unfaithful  lover  writes 
his  apologies  for  his  conduct,  we  find  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  not  only  accepting  them  but  making  her  own 
excuses  for  the  tone  she  has  adopted  :  "  If  one  thousandth 
part  of  my  worries  were  known  to  you,  you  would 
not  find  it  strange  that  my  letter  should  seem  as  involved 
as  my  mind.  Excuse,  then,  those  errors,  and  judge  if, 
in  the  midst  of  so  many  ills,  real  martyrdom  of  love, 
I  still  sing  your  glory,  as,  being  without  the  ills  and 
the  gehennas,  I  shall  know  how  worthily  to  acquit  myself. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  237 

Adieu !  my  life,  I   kiss  a  million  times  those   beautiful 
eyes  with  that  splendid  hair,  my  dear  and  sweet  bonds." 

Upon  another  occasion,  when  an  accident  has  pre- 
vented a  rendezvous,  after  crying  out  against  all  humanity, 
she  wonders  "  if  the  sun  has  not  changed  its  course 
in  seeing  me  miss  the  days  destined  to  the  holy  sacrifices 
of  love,"  and  then  continues  with  a  rhapsody  concerning 
their  ravished  souls  being  joined  in  the  Empyreal 
Heaven  !  From  heaven  this  very  loving  Princess  de- 
scends again  to  earth,  to  curse  all  those  who  have  been 
the  cause  of  her  being  unable  to  keep  her  appointment, 
and  who  generally  run  counter  to  her  desires. 

"  Infernal  and  accursed  race  !  who  dull  my  eyes  by 
the  abundance  of  my  tears,  take  away  the  lustre  from  my 
beauty — which  I  can  describe  as  such  since  it  has  pleased 
you — and  trouble  my  mind  to  such  an  extent  that  I  can 
only  compare  it  to  a  state  of  chaos. 

"  Do  not,  then,  regret  not  to  have  seen  me,  but  wish 
and  pray  Heaven  constantly  that,  if  love  should  not  prove 
strong  enough  to  protect  me,  at  all  events  grim  Death 
will  not  refuse  me  his  aid." 

It  is  this  involved,  rhapsodical  style  in  which 
Marguerite  delighted  to  pour  out  her  soul  to  Harlay  de 
Champvallon,  which  has  been  characterised  as  "du  pur 
Phdbus,"  or  Phoebus.  The  Queen  of  Navarre  could  reel 
it  off  at  will,  by  pages  at  a  time.  When  she  became  tired 
of  writing  in  prose,  she  varied  her  style  by  writing  at 
great  length  in  extremely  passionate  verse.  In  this  she 
compares  herself  to  palm-trees,  iron,  fire,  wind,  to  an 
Etna  of  sobs,  and  to  a  sea  of  tears  !  Of  anything  to  do 
with  fire  she  is  particularly  fond  ;  accordingly  we  are  not 
at  all  surprised  to  find  this  ardent  Princess  even  com- 
paring   herself    to   a   *'cold   salamander,"    which,   when 


238         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

pJaced  in  the   furnace,  has   no   fear   of  the   flames — in 
fact,  it  would  seem,  rather  likes  them. 

We  will  merely  reproduce  her  "  salamander"  verse — 
as  one  is  enough  ;  ex  unoy  disce  omnes  ! 

La  froide  salamandre,  au  chaud  antipathique, 

Met  parmi  ce  brasier  sa  chaleur  en  pratique, 

Et  la  brfilante  ardeur  n'y  nuit  que  point  ou  peu. 

Je  dure  dans  le  feu,  corame  la  salamandre, 

Le  chaud  ne  la  consomme ;  il  ne  la  met  en  cendre ; 

Elle  ne  craint  la  flamme,  et  je  ne  crains  le  feu. 

After  some  fifty  verses  of  this  sort  of  thing  the 
wonder  to  the  reader  is  not  that  the  fire  could  not 
consume  Marguerite,  but  rather  that  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  did  not  herself  consume  the  fire  !  At  all  events, 
to  the  impartial  critic  of  the  events  of  her  life  and  those 
of  her  husband,  it  must  appear  that  the  outcry  which  she 
made  at  this  time,  just  because  the  King  of  Navarre 
requested  her  not  to  send  Fosseuse  away,  was  a  little 
unreasonable.  For  Champvallon  was  to  her  a  source  of 
daily  joy,  of  amorous  and  cerebral  excitement,  whether 
present  or  absent ;  while  Henri,  who  had  no  intention 
whatever  of  returning  to  the  Court,  could  scarcely  ex- 
pect to  see  the  young  Fran9oise  de  Montmorency  ever 
again. 

The  autumn  of  that  year  1583  was  a  particularly 
lively  one  at  the  Court  of  the  Louvre.  It  was  a  time 
of  balls,  music,  and  gaiety.  Henri  III.  amused  hihiself 
with  dancing,  and  to  Marguerite,  in  the  midst  of  a  series 
of  fetes  in  which  she  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits,  there 
came  the  recollection  of  her  husband. 

Knowing  full  well  that,  should  he  appear  uoon  the 
scene,  he  would  in  no  means  interfere  with  her  enjoy- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  239 

ments,  Marguerite  wrote  to  her  husband  playfully,  that 
if  he  were  an  honest  man  he  would  quit  agriculture 
and  the  humour  of  a  Timon  to  come  and  live  among 
men.  Henri  de  Navarre  preferred  to  continue  to  lead 
his  existence  elsewhere — among  women.  Accordingly, 
although  we  can  well  believe  that  there  was  something 
really  companionable  in  the  jovial  nature  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  some  traits  which  made  him  desirable  to  his 
volatile  spouse,  she  had,  perforce,  to  continue  to  content 
herself  with  the  love  of  Champvallon  when  he  was 
present,  or  with  writing  to  him  when  he  was  away.  Her 
**  Ph6bus  "  now  became  more  and  more  exalted  in  style, 
more  transcendental  than  ever  in  its  figures  of  speech. 
After  telling  her  lover  at  first,  just  to  excite  his  jealousy 
a  little,  that  her  apartments  had  been  full  of  gallants 
upon  the  previous  night,  she  lets  herself  go  more  than 
ever,  in  a  letter  written  at  this  period. 

"  Such  diversions  as  would  shake  any  other  passion 
make  upon  mine  as  much  effect  as  the  waves  of  the  sea 
on  a  moveless  sun.  Adieu,  my  beautiful  sun  !  adieu,  my 
handsome  angel  !  lovely  miracle  of  nature.  I  kiss  those 
millions  of  perfections  which  the  gods  have  delighted  in 
making  and  which  men  delight  in  admiring."  This  was 
not  bad  for  style,  even  for  Marguerite,  when  writing  to 
the  husband  of  another  woman.  Alas  !  however,  for  the 
infidelity  of  man.  Alas  !  likewise  for  the  intrigues  of 
women — notably  of  one  woman,  Madame  de  Sauve. 

Not  content  with  all  that  she  had  already  done  to 
intervene  between  the  Queen  of  Navarre  and  those  whom 
she  held  dear,  the  enchantress  who  had  already  won  in 
succession  the  hearts  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  Fran9ois 
d'Alen9on,  and  Henri  de  Guise,  now  determined  upon 
the  further  capture  of  Harlay  de  Champvallon. 


240         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

The  jealousy  of  Marguerite  now  surpassed  all  the 
bounds  of  prudence  ;  the  sound  of  her  violent  reproaches 
re-echoed  loudly  through  the  corridors  of  the  Louvre, 
where  all  were  laughing  at  her  folly,  since  she  herself  it 
was  who  foolishly  made  known  the  fact  that  she  was 
unable  to  retain  her  lover. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 
The  Disgrace  of  Marguerite 

1583 

During  this  time  of  frivolity  and  self-indulgence,  during 
a  part  of  which  Marguerite  retained  Champvallon,  who 
had  left  his  wife  in  Sedan,  in  her  own  household,  a 
crisis  was  approaching  in  the  career  of  the  Queen  of 
Navarre. 

It  originated  in  part  owing  to  the  affairs  of  her 
brother  d*Alen9on.  This  Prince  had  been  declared  their 
Sovereign  by  the  people  of  the  Low  Countries,  with  a 
long  string  of  titles.  They  conferred  four  new  Duchies 
upon  him — those  of  Brabant,  Lothier,  Luxembourg,  and 
Gueldre  ;  four  great  Counties — Flanders,  Zelande,  Hol- 
land, and  Zutphen  ;  made  him  Marquis  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  Seigneur  of  Friesland  and  Malines, 
and  finally  appointed  Fran9ois  to  the  lofty  position  of 
Defender  of  Belgian  Liberty. 

All  of  these  grand  titles  and  appointments  merely 
resulted  in  d'Alen9on  being  without  any  real  power  in 
the  Low  Countries,  where  the  people  of  the  different 
parties,  with  the  Prince  of  Orange  at  their  head,  looked 
with  suspicion  upon  any  foreign  domination. 

The  power  of  Spain  was,  moreover,  far  from  being 

broken  down  after  the  death  of  Don  Juan  of  Austria,  for 

241 


242         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

that  able  General,  Alexander  Farnese,  Sovereign  Duke  of 
Parma,  at  the  head  of  a  large  Spanish  army,  speedily 
advanced  to  reduce  the  malcontent  Flemish  States  to 
their  former  state  of  dependence  under  Philip  II. 

In  the  year  1583,  chafing  at  the  impotence  of  his 
position  as  a  ruler  who  was  unable  to  rule,  anxious, 
moreover,  to  prove  his  independence  to  his  brother 
Henri  III.,  who  was  secretly  working  against  him, 
Fran9ois  endeavoured  by  a  coup  de  main  to  obtain  the 
actual  possession  of  many  of  the  larger  cities  of  Flanders. 
He  succeeded  at  Dunkirk  and  Ostend,  but  failed  at 
Ghent,  Bruges,  and  notably  at  Antwerp,  in  the  attack 
upon  which  place  Fran9ois  commanded  in  person. 

William  the  Silent,  Prince  of  Orange,  had  been 
warned  in  advance  of  the  design  to  seize  Antwerp,  with 
the  result  that,  when  d'Alen9on  entered  the  town  by  one 
of  the  gates  which  he  had  secured,  he  lost  two  thousand 
of  the  four  thousand  men  of  which  his  force  was  com- 
posed. He  did  not  himself  show  great  courage,  retiring 
to  a  safe  position  in  the  suburbs  as  soon  as  the  Flemish 
inhabitants  began  to  play  upon  his  men  with  their  artillery. 

One  of  the  causes  of  the  growing  unpopularity  of 
Fran9ois  in  Flanders  had  been  the  alliance  which  he  had 
with  Queen  Elizabeth,  who,  although,  after  considerable 
dalliance  upon  his  visits  to  England,  she  would  not  marry 
him,  had  helped  him  both  with  money  and  troops.  The 
soldiers  that  she  sent  were  badly  commanded  ;  they 
roamed  about  the  Netherlands  in  undisciplined  bands,  not 
only  pillaging,  but  killing  all  the  Catholic  priests  whom 
they  met. 

After  his  disaster  at  Antwerp  Fran9ois  had  shot  his 
bolt  in  the  Low  Countries.  He  retired  with  the  re- 
mainder of  his  force  to  the  fortified  city  of  Termonde, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  243 

where  he  received  a  bitter  letter  from  his  mother, 
Catherine  de  MMicis.  "  Would  to  God !  *'  she  said, 
*'  that  you  were  dead  !  You  could  not  then  have  caused 
the  death  of  so  many  brave  gentlemen."  As  for 
Henri  III.,  he  was  delighted  at  his  brother's  failure,  and 
took  care  to  write  at  once  to  the  Duke  of  Parma  to 
disown  any  share  in  his  schemes  or  enterprises. 

All  his  fear  of  his  brother  had  now  gone.  Henri  III. 
had  dreaded  to  see  Fran9ois  supreme  in  Flanders,  and 
would  indeed  much  have  preferred  to  see  the  authority 
of  Philip  II.  maintained  ;  and  now  he  realised  with  joy 
that  the  brother  whom  he  dreaded  to  see  strong  had 
been  reduced  to  impotence.  The  King's  mignons  openly 
rejoiced  and  sneered  at  the  Prince  who  had  proved  his 
ineptitude  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  Marguerite  soon 
began  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  downfall  of  the  brother 
who  was  her  second  self. 

Ever  since  the  return  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre  to 
the  Court  of  France  she  had  been  at  cross-purposes  with 
the  two  most  powerful  of  the  mignons.  These  were  two 
young  men  whom  the  King  had  created  respectively 
Due  de  Joyeuse  and  Due  d'Epernon,  favourites  who, 
although  excessively  jealous  of  one  another,  joined  hands 
in  their  antipathy  to  Marguerite  de  Valois. 

For  this  hatred  the  injudicious  Princess  was  herself 
in  a  great  measure  responsible,  since  she  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of  repeating  aloud,  in  the  most  offensive  manner, 
all  that  wiser  persons  at  the  Court  merely  dared  to 
whisper  concerning  the  inordinate  affection  shown  by  the 
King  for  his  favourites,  upon  whom  he  wasted  all  the 
resources  of  the  Kingdom. 

For  this  spiteful  feminine  snapping,  in  which  in  her 
hatred  of  Henri  III.  Marguerite  constantly  indulged,  she 


244         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

was  soon  to  be  made  to  pay.  Even  before  the  time 
came  when  Henri  took  his  public  revenge  upon  his  sister 
he  commenced  to  treat  her  with  scorn  and  neglect  when 
he  was  informed  by  Joyeuse  and  d'Epernon  of  all  they 
knew  to  her  disadvantage.  Above  all,  the  King  was 
furious  when  told  by  his  two  favourites  that,  far  from 
endeavouring  to  persuade  the  King  of  Navarre  to  come 
to  Paris,  his  sister  was  doing  all  in  her  power  to  keep 
her  husband  away. 

While  there  had  been  a  chance  of  d'Alen9on  be- 
coming powerful  enough  to  resent,  possibly  with  an  army 
at  his  back,  any  insult  to  his  beloved  sister,  the  cowardly 
Henri  III.  had  held  his  hand.  He  now  had  no  longer 
any  cause  for  moderation  towards  Marguerite,  the  open 
immorality  of  whose  life  made  of  her  such  an  easy  object 
of  attack. 

Accounts  as  to  the  mode  of  the  commencement  of 
the  quarrel  of  the  King  with  his  sister  differ,  one  version 
being  that  it  was  by  an  attack  being  made  upon  Madame 
de  Duras,  one  of  Marguerite's  favourite  ladies,  on 
account  of  her  libertine  life.  This  attack  was  violently 
resented  by  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  and  the  quarrel  was 
begun.  For  a  time,  however,  matters  continued  merely 
to  simmer,  as  the  King  went  off  for  a  journey  to  M^zi^res, 
on  the  frontier.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Champvallon, 
who  had  been  in  Flanders  with  Fran9ois,  left  his  wife  at 
Sedan,  and  came  to  Marguerite  in  Paris  to  receive  an 
appointment  about  her  person,  which  gave  an  excuse  for 
him  to  reside  with  her  in  her  sumptuous  abode. 

Catherine  de  M^dicis  was  also  away  from  Paris, 
having  gone  to  see  the  Due  d'Alen^on,  who  had  fallen 
very  ill.  So  sick  was  he  with  lung  disease  that  it  seemed 
unlikely  that  he  would  recover ;  whereupon  the  Queen- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  245 

Mother  had  allowed  her  maternal  feelings  to  get  the  upper 
hand  of  her  recent  anger,  and  she  remained  away  until 
after  the  King  had  returned  to  Paris.  Henri  left  again 
almost  at  once,  and  now  it  was  that  a  very  serious  event 
took  place,  which  caused  the  King  strongly  to  suspect 
his  sister  of  the  assassination  of  one  of  his  messengers. 
The  Due  de  Joyeuse  had  been  sent  away  on  a  mission 
to  Italy,  and  Henri  III.  sent  off  to  him  a  courier  bearing 
a  very  long  letter  written  entirely  in  his  own  hand. 
Varillas  is  the  authority  for  saying  that  this  letter 
*'  contained  odious  things  concerning  his  sister's  conduct." 

This  messenger  was  attacked  by  four  masked  men, 
brutally  murdered,  and  his  despatches  taken  from  him. 
Henri  instantly  returned  to  Paris,  which  he  had  barely 
left,  and  his  fury  surpassed  all  bounds.  He,  however, 
dissembled  his  wrath  for  a  few  days,  until  a  favourable 
occasion  for  publicly  wreaking  it  upon  his  sister's  head 
should  arise. 

This  occurred  at  a  State  ball  at  the  Louvre,  at  which 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  represented  the  absent  Queen- 
Mother,  who  was  not  far  away,  being  now  at  Passy. 
Upon  the  night  of  August  yth,  1583,  as  the  all-unsus- 
pecting Marguerite  was  seated  upon  the  Royal  daYs,  she 
saw  the  King,  her  brother,  approaching  her,  followed  by 
the  Due  d'Epernon  and  all  his  favourites. 

Standing  in  front  of  her,  in  a  loud  voice,  so  that  all 
present  could  hear  what  he  had  to  say,  Henri  III,  then 
reproached  his  sister  in  unmeasured  terms.  He  mentioned, 
in  detail  by  name,  all  the  different  lovers  that  she  had  had 
since  her  marriage,  he  accused  her  of  having  had  a  son  by 
Champvallon,  and  gave  the  dates  and  the  places  with  such 
precision  that,  according  to  Busbecq,  *'  he  seemed  to 
have  been  the  witness  of  the  deeds  that  he  cited." 

15 


246         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

At  the  end  of  this  horrible  harangue,  to  which  the 
humihated  Queen  listened  in  a  kind  of  stupor  without 
finding  a  word  to  reply,  the  King  shouted,  "  You  have 
got  nothing  to  do  here  ;  go  off  and  rejoin  your  husband, 
and  leave  to-morrow." 

As  has  been  pointed  out,  whatever  might  have  been 
the  truth  of  his  accusations,  such  an  open  and  outrageous 
scandal  came  but  ill  from  a  man  who  led  the  basely 
licentious  life  of  Henri  III.,  a  King  who  was  the  most 
degraded  wretch  who  ever  occupied  the  throne  of  France. 
His  vengeance  was  not,  however,  yet  accomplished.  He 
endeavoured  to  seize  Harlay  de  Champvallon  that  same 
night,  but  the  Queen  of  Navarre's  lover  was  too  quick  for 
him,  and  was  already  off  for  German  soil  as  fast  as  horses 
could  gallop. 

Upon  the  following  day,  however,  when  Marguerite 
had  left  Paris  and,  according  to  Lestoille,  "  was  going  to 
sleep  at  Palaiseau,  the  King  caused  her  to  be  followed  by 
sixty  archers  of  the  Guard,  under  Larchant,  who  came  to 
find  her  even  in  her  bed."  They  seized  Madame  de 
Duras,  and  the  Demoiselle  de  Bethune  (a  cousin  of  Sully), 
whose  faces  they  slapped,  and  put  them  under  arrest 
under  charges  of  a  disgraceful  nature.  Ten  others  of 
Marguerite's  suite  of  both  sex  were  also  seized,  and 
all  were  taken  to  the  King  at  Montargis,  where  he 
personally  examined  them,  one  by  one,  as  to  his  sister's 
misdeeds. 

Marguerite's  followers  proved,  however,  faithful  ; 
they  would  say  nothing  to  incriminate  their  mistress. 
Accordingly,  with  the  notable  exceptions  of  Madame 
de  Duras  and  Mademoiselle  de  Bethune,  the  Queen  of 
Navarre  and  most  of  her  followers  were  allowed  to 
proceed  on  their  journey  to  Gascony. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  247 

The  vengeance  of  Henri  III.  had  gone  so  far  as 
at  first  to  confine  some  members  of  his  sister's  suite  in 
the  Bastille,  and  it  would  seem  as  if  Madame  de  Duras 
and  Mademoiselle  de  Bethune  were  among  those  in- 
carcerated. Catherine  de  Medicis  was,  however,  very 
angry  when  she  learned  of  the  public  insult  put  by  the 
King  upon  his  sister,  which  she  looked  upon  in  the  light 
of  a  terrible  blunder,  likely  to  alienate  the  King  of 
Navarre.  She  accordingly  contrived  to  persuade  her 
son  to  release  the  prisoners  from  the  Bastille. 

The  position  of  Marguerite  was,  however,  a  miserable 
one.  No  one  knew  in  what  direction  she  was  wandering. 
She  was  without  money,  without  friends,  and  by  no 
means  certain  that  her  brother  might  not  send  off  after 
her  a  second  time  and  cause  her  death.  The  King, 
knowing  that  an  account  of  what  had  happened  must 
soon  reach  the  ears  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  had  himself 
written  off  in  a  hurry  to  his  brother-in-law,  to  inform 
him  that  he  had  expelled  from  his  Court,  on  account 
of  their  immoralities  and  improprieties,  Madame  de  Duras 
and  Mademoiselle  de  B6thune,  as  pernicious  vermin  not 
fit  to  be  near  the  person  of  the  Queen  of  Navarre  ;  but 
he  said  nothing  of  his  affront  to  his  sister. 

Naturally,  upon  receiving  the  news  of  his  wife's 
public  disgrace  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  Henri  de 
Navarre  declared  flatly  that  he  refused  to  receive  his 
wife  back  at  his  own  Court.  She,  meantime,  was 
travelling  about  from  one  place  to  another,  in  the 
greatest  condition  of  distress,  of  which  she  wrote  to 
her  mother,  saying  that  she  did  not  know  if  she  wished 
to  preserve  her  life,  but  begging  her,  at  all  events,  to 
clear  her  honour  after  her  death.  It  was,  she  said,  so 
much  associated  with  the  Queen's  own  honour  that  she 


248         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

would  doubtless  see  the  necessity  for  doing  this. 
Marguerite  recommended  to  her  mother  the  care,  after 
her  death,  of  all  the  poor  officers  of  her  household,  who, 
she  said,  owing  to  her  continual  condition  of  indigence, 
had  for  long  remained  unpaid.  Finally,  she  said  that  she 
did  not  wish  to  prevent  her  enemies  from  taking  her  life, 
but  that,  if  assured  that  her  mother  would  take  the 
necessary  measures  to  ensure  the  rehabilitation  of  her 
character  after  her  death,  she  would  sign  beforehand  any 
papers  that  might  be  invented  upon  any  other  subject. 

It  is  evident  from  what  has  already  been  recorded 
that,  if  Marguerite  had  enemies  at  this  time — and  that 
she  had,  with  the  King  at  their  head,  is  of  course  a  fact — 
she  herself  had  been  her  own  worst  enemy,  through  the 
folly  of  her  conduct.  That  did  not  prevent  the  fact 
of  the  frightful  condition  of  distress  in  which  her  daughter 
was  in  from  moving  the  bowels  of  compassion  of 
Catherine,  who  could,  however,  do  little  to  improve 
matters,  beyond  persuading  her  son  to  write  new  letters 
to  the  King  of  Navarre,  to  endeavour  to  gloss  over  that 
which  he  had  already  publicly  proclaimed  and  privately 
written  concerning  his  wife.  She  urged  the  King,  there- 
fore, to  do  all  in  his  power  to  mitigate  matters,  and  at 
the  same  time  forwarded  to  her  daughter  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  thousand  livres. 

Henri's  reply  to  the  first  letter  which  he  received  was 
humorously  satirical.  He  thanked  the  King  ironically  for 
the  care  which  he  had  taken  of  his  wife's  reputation,  said 
that  he  had  long  known  the  scandalous  lives  led  by  "  la 
Duras "  and  "  la  Bethune,"  but  that  he  considered  that, 
his  wife  having  the  honour  of  being  under  their  Majesties' 
charge,  it  would  have  been  quite  an  unnecessary  action  on 
his  part  to  attempt  to  remedy  from  a  distance  that  which 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  249 

they  were  sure  to  be  careful  to  remedy  themselves,  being 
on  the  spot. 

Further  letters  soon  arrived,  attempting  to  make  light 
of  the  outrageous  incident  of  Marguerite's  arrest  by  the 
archers  when  in  bed  at  Palaiseau,  and  to  beg  the  B^arnais 
to  take  back  his  wife.  The  arrest,  the  King  now  said, 
had  been  caused  by  the  undue  zeal  of  subordinate  officers, 
while,  with  reference  to  the  public  outrage  at  the  ball,  he 
had  now  learned  that  what  he  had  been  told  was  false. 
The  reply  was  a  messenger,  in  the  shape  of  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay,  from  the  King  of  Navarre,  to  demand  boldly 
that  Marguerite  should  be  punished  if  she  had  behaved  as 
the  King  had  alleged,  or,  if  she  had  not,  then  that  due 
punishment  should  be  meted  out  to  those  counsellors  who 
had  advised  the  King  to  act  as  he  had  done,  to  the  great  dis- 
honour of  the  Royal  Houses  both  of  France  and  of  Navarre. 

It  was  in  ivain  for  Henri  III.  to  shuffle  and  twist 
before  the  determined  front  of  Du  Plessis-Mornay.  This 
courageous  envoy  told  him  plainly  that  the  King  of 
Navarre  knew  everything  that  had  taken  place,  and  added 
that  "  either  his  Majesty  had  done  too  much  or  too 
little — too  much  if  the  fault  was  less  than  extreme,  too 
little  if,  considering  the  Queen  worthy  to  lose  her  honour, 
he  had  permitted  her  to  survive." 

Henri  III.  did  not  know  how  to  reply  ;  eventually 
he  said  that  he  would  go  off  to  take  the  waters,  and  com- 
municate with  his  brother  Frangois  and  the  Queen- 
Mother  on  the  subject,  as  they  were  equally  concerned 
in  the  matter.  As,  however,  it  was  essential  that  his  Queen 
should  present  him  with  an  heir,  it  was  necessary  that  he 
and  Queen  Louise  should  delay  no  longer,  but  go  in  the 
autumn  to  take  the  waters,  which  were  likely  to  prove 
efficacious,  before  making  up  his  mind  definitely;  and  so  on. 


250         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Du  Plessis  did  not  flinch.  "  That  will  be  rather  a 
long  time  to  wait,"  he  remarked.  "  Your  Majesty  will 
be  good  enough  to  remember  that  the  arrow  is  in  the 
wound,  and  rankling  there.  What,  Sire,  will  all  Christianity 
say  should  the  King  of  Navarre  receive  back  his  wife 
and  embrace  her,  without  any  scruples,  after  all  this 
scandal  concerning  her }  How  can  he  do  so  upon 
receiving  her  back  all  besmirched  ^ " 

*'  Why,"  answered  Henri  III.,  "  of  course  he  can 
reply  that  he  will  receive  his  King's  sister.  What  else 
could  he  do  .? " 

Nothing  could  be  settled  by  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  but 
Henri  de  Navarre  sent  another  messenger  to  the  Court 
of  France.  This  was  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  who  spoke  out 
so  openly  that  it  is  a  wonder  that  he  did  not  lose  his  head. 

Henri  III.,  in  return,  sent  Pomponne  de  Bellievre 
to  the  B6arnais  ;  but  this  clever  young  diplomatist 
found  it  by  no  means  easy  to  accommodate  matters. 
The  fact  was  that  Henri  de  Navarre,  being  at  this  time 
very  much  in  love  with  the  beautiful  Diane  d'Andouins, 
Comtesse  de  Gramont  et  Guiche,  did  not  at  all  care  to  see 
his  wife  reappear  at  Nerac.  Bellievre  remitted  to  him  a 
letter  from  the  King  begging  him  to  remember  that  the 
most  virtuous  princesses  were  not  exempt  from  calumny, 
and  that  even  his  own  mother,  Jeanne  d'Albret,  had  been 
talked  about.  Upon  its  receipt  the  Bearnais  laughed 
loudly,  and  remarked  to  Bellievre,  so  that  all  might 
hear  :  *'  The  ICmg  does  me  great  honour  by  his  letters  ! 
in  the  first  he  calls  me  cuckold,  in  the  last  the  son  of  a 
worthless  woman  "  (Lestoille). 

Marguerite  meanwhile  repaired  to  her  city  of  Agen, 
and  there  remained. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 
La  belle  Corisande 

1580  and  Later 

The  love  of  Henri  de  Beam  for  she  who  was  known 
as  La  belle  Corisande  was  one  of  which  no  Prince 
need  be  ashamed.  This  lady  was  possessed  of  both 
beauty  and  brains.  She  was  disinterested  in  her  love- 
affair  with  Henri,  and  endowed  with  a  courageous  dis- 
position. Even  if  her  virtue  did  not  prove  sufficiently 
strong  to  resist  the  dictates  of  her  heart,  excuses  must 
be  made  for  her  on  account  of  her  other  good  qualities, 
and,  above  all  else,  we  must  take  into  consideration  the 
age  in  which  she  lived.  It  was  an  epoch  when  that 
which  would  nowadays  be  looked  upon  as  vice  was 
merely  regarded  as  a  venial  fault,  merely  worthy  of  a 
passing  jest. 

There  was  in  the  disposition  of  the  Comtesse  de 
Gramont  et  Guiche  an  innate  nobility  which  raised  her 
far  above  all  the  other  mistresses  of  le  rot  vert  galant, 
nor  did  she,  like  the  celebrated  Gabriellfe  d'Estr^es,  ever 
intermeddle  with  State  affairs. 

"While  the  passion   of  Henri  de  Navarre  for  Diane 

d'Andouins  was  elevating   in   its  nature,  on   account  of 

the  worth  of  its  object,  we  will  not  go  quite  so  far  as 

a  French  author  of  the  last  century,  who  boldly  asserts 

351 


2^2         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

that  **  she  was  one  of  those  women  who  have  never  cost 
anything  to  the  dignity  of  the  Prince  nor  the  prosperity 
of  the  State."  For  surely  Henri  sacrificed  his  dignity 
when,  after  gaining  the  battle  of  Coutras,  instead  of 
continuing  the  campaign,  he  hurried  off  to  this  amiable 
mistress  with  a  bundle  of  captured  flags.  Moreover, 
if  the  prosperity  of  the  State  did  not  suffer  upon  this 
occasion,  the  Huguenot  cause  most  certainly  did.  This 
circumstance  must  not,  however,  be  attributed  to  any 
fault  on  the  part  of  Corisande,  but  merely  to  the  excessive 
love  and  consequent  vanity  of  the  King  of  Navarre. 

Diane  d'Andouins  was  the  daughter  of  a  noble 
gentleman  whom  Brantome  mentions  as  having  been 
killed  at  the  siege  of  Rouen  near  the  Due  Fran9ois  de 
Guise.  She  was  born  in  1554,  and  consequently  was 
a  year  younger  than  Henri  de  Navarre.  When  merely 
thirteen  years  of  age  the  child  was  married  to  Philibert 
de  Gramont  et  Toulongeon,  Comte  de  Gramont,  called 
also  Comte  de  Guiche. 

It  was  nine  years  after  the  consummation  of  this 
marriage,  which  took  place  on  August  7th,  1567,  that 
Henri  de  Navarre  first  met  the  young  lady.  The 
occasion  was  that  of  his  going  to  take  possession  of  his 
Governorship  of  Guyenne,  when  he  considered  it  proper 
to  visit  Diane's  husband,  who  was  Governor  of  Bayonne 
and  Senechal  of  B6arn,  and  had  rendered  various  friendly 
services  to  his  mother,  Jeanne  d'Albret.  It  has  been 
supposed  by  many  that  the  loves  of  Henri  and  she 
whom  he  called  La  belle  Corisande  date  from  this  first 
meeting,  but  it  was  probably  not  so,  otherwise  the 
amours  of  Henri  with  this  lady  would  have  been  carried 
on  for  the  immense  period,  for  this  inconstant  Prince, 
of  twenty  years. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  253 

There  is  indeed  considerable  doubt  as  to  whether 
the  connection  had  even  commenced  before  the  death 
of  Philibert  de  Gramont.  This  gallant  gentleman,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  favourites  of  Henri  III.,  was  a 
deadly  enemy  of  Bussy  d'Amboise.  He  was,  like  Bussy, 
a  famous  duellist,  and  in  1578,  after  killing  a  connection 
of  Queen  Louise  de  Vaudemont,  as  the  result  of  a 
foolish  quarrel  about  a  page's  walking-stick,  he  sought 
for  a  more  Homeric  combat.  Gramont  then,  with  three 
hundred  gentlemen,  challenged  Bussy,  with  three  hundred 
gentlemen,  to  mortal  strife  ;  but  this  gigantic  duel  was 
prevented  by  the  King,  who  feared  lest  his  Court  should 
be  entirely  depleted  by  these  hot-headed  nobles,  who 
sought  to  destroy  one  another  like  so  many  Kilkenny 
cats. 

Philibert  de  Gramont  accordingly  survived  until  the 
year  1580,  when,  in  the  month  of  August,  we  hear  that 
"  the  Seigneur  de  Gramont,  a  Gascon  of  great  valour  and 
experience,  had  an  arm  carried  away  during  some  firing 
before  La  Fere." 

This  place,  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  belonged 
to  Marguerite,  was  held  by  the  Huguenots  and  attacked 
during  the  Lovers'  War.  We  do  not  learn  on  which 
side  Gramont  was  fighting,  but,  although  a  Gascon, 
it  was  probably  on  that  of  the  King,  as  he  had  been 
a  mignon.  The  fact  is,  however,  immaterial ;  what  is 
important,  while  endeavouring  to  get  at  dates,  is  that, 
after  the  action  at  La  F^re,  we  hear  of  him  no  more. 
We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that  the  cannon-ball  which 
carried  away  his  arm  cut  oiF  his  life  as  well. 

Now  Sully  mentions  the  King  as  being  at  the  height 
of  his  amour  with  Corisande  in  1583.  In  his  Economies 
royales,  vol.  i,,  he  says  :  "  The  King  of  Navarre  was  then 


2  54         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

at  the  hottest  of  his  amorous  passion  for  the  Comtesse  de 
Guiche,  to  meet  whom  he  made  a  journey  to  a  place 
called  Ageman." 

We  should  prefer  to  be  on  the  side  of  those  who 
consider  that  the  connection  of  La  belle  Corisande  with 
Henri  was  not,  at  its  commencement,  an  adulterous  one  on 
her  side,  but  that  she  was  a  fair  young  widow,  at  liberty 
to  dispose  of  her  person  as  she  chose.  Unfortunately, 
against  this  supposition,  we  have  the  famous  Memoires  du 
Comte  de  Gramont.  In  this  book  we  find  the  Chevalier 
de  Gramont  distinctly  claiming  to  his  friend  Matta  to  be 
the  grandson  of  Henri  IV.  He  remarks  regretfully, 
while  speaking  of  his  father,  that  Henri  IV.  wanted  by 
all  means  to  recognise  him  as  his  son,  '*  but  never  would 
that  traitor  of  a  man  consent  thereto.  Just  see  what  the 
Gramonts  missed  by  that  stroke  of  bad  luck  !  They 
would  have  had  precedence  over  the  C6sars  de  Vendome." 
The  Chevalier  here  refers  to  the  two  sons,  offspring  of 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  legitimatised  by  Henri  IV.,  and 
endowed  with  Royal  rank.  These  were  the  Due  (C6sar) 
de  Vendome  and  the  Chevalier  de  Vend6me. 

The  father  of  the  Chevalier  de  Gramont  was  Antoine, 
the  son  of  La  belle  Corisande,  and  various  other  authors 
mention  him  as  being  the  son  of  Henri  de  Navarre. 
One  of  these,  in  his  remarks  upon  Les  Amours  du  grand 
Alcandre,  that  scandalous  work  concerning  Henri  IV.  by 
the  Princesse  de  Conti,  tells  a  very  ridiculous  §tory  in 
relation  to  this  matter.  He  says  that  the  Due  d'Orleans, 
the  second  son  of  Henri  IV.,  by  his  second  wife,  Marie 
de  M6dicis,  always  claimed  Antoine  de  Gramont  as  his 
brother.  One  day  he  said  to  the  Comte,  who  had  then 
been  made  a  Due  by  his  elder  brother,  Louis  XIII.  : 
**  You  know  you  are  my  brother,  Antoine,  for  my  father 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  255 

and  your  mother  shared  the  same  couch."  "  Yes," 
replied  de  Gramont,  *'  that's  true  ;  but  what  you  don't 
know  is  that  there  was  always  a  log  {une  huche)  between 
them."  After  that  the  Due  d'Orleans  usually  called  him 
his  Brother  Log  {Frere  Buche). 

Whether  recognised  as  Brother  Log  or  no,  Antoine 
de  Gramont  always  refused  to  accept  from  Henri  IV.  the 
questionable  honour  of  being  publicly  recognised  as  his 
son  ;  he  told  the  King  bluntly  that  he  preferred  "  to  be 
a  gentleman  to  a  King's  bastard." 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  there  will  always 
remain  the  difficulty  concerning  this  question  of  the 
paternity  of  the  only  son  born  to  Corisande  in  wedlock, 
to  prevent  those  who  would  like  to  think  of  her  as 
having  been  a  virtuous  spouse  from  being  sure  of  the 
fact.  That  after  she  became  a  widow  she  bore  a  child, 
who  died  in  childhood,  to  Henri  de  Navarre,  is,  however, 
known  for  a  fact. 

How  deeply  Henri  loved  Corisande  is  testified  by  the 
circumstance  that  he  gave  to  his  mistress  a  promise  of 
marriage  signed  with  his  blood.  His  followers,  however, 
and  notably  d'Aubigne,  who  quarrelled  with  the  mistress 
as  much  as  he  did  with  the  wife,  could  not  bear  to  see 
their  master  engaging  in  this  soft  dalliance  with  the 
Comtesse  de  Gramont  in  her  chateau  at  Pau.  Not 
infrequently  d'Aubigne,  honest  fellow  that  he  was,  boldly 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  King  of  Navarre  by  telling 
him  that  he  would  do  far  better  to  leave  the  ivory  arms 
of  his  lady-love  to  lead  his  followers  more  often  to  the 
field  of  glory. 

Henri,  however,  was  as  obstinate  as  d'Aubign^,  and 
he  considered  that  there  was  an  appointed  time  for  every- 
thing, for  love-making  as   for   fighting.     The  time  for 


256         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

each  he  chose  to  select  for  himself,  and,  although  he 
contrived  to  pass  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  the  one 
occupation  or  the  other,  not  all  the  remonstrances  of  his 
trusty  followers  proved  of  much  avail  in  causing  him  to 
curtail  the  hours  devoted  to  Venus  in  order  to  yield  a 
greater  tribute  to  Mars. 

At  length,  however,  a  new  war  commenced  between 
the  Huguenots  and  the  Catholics.  This  was  in  the  year 
1586.  This  conflict  is  termed  by  d'Aubign^  the  War 
of  the  Barricades  ;  other  historians  denote  it  under  the 
heading  of  the  War  of  the  Three  Henris  ;  that  is  to  say, 
Henri  III.,  Henri  de  Navarre,  and  Henri  de  Guise. 

It  was  the  last  who  was  the  primary  cause  of  the  war. 
Being  backed  up  in  his  designs  by  the  Queen-Mother,  he 
forced  the  King  to  suspend  all  the  old  Edicts  of  Tolerance 
which  had  been  granted  to  the  Huguenots.  They  were 
requested  to  return  their  places  of  surety,  and  to  change 
their  religion  within  six  months  or  suffer  confiscation  of 
all  their  goods.  Not  finding  this  latter  proviso  sufficiently 
severe,  the  Due  de  Guise  and  his  brother,  the  Due  de 
Mayenne,  next  compelled  the  King  to  limit  the  time 
allowed  to  the  Huguenots  in  which  to  renounce  their 
faith  to  only  fifteen  days. 

Henri  de  Navarre  had  already  for  some  time  past 
succeeded  to  the  position  of  heir  to  the  Crown  of  France, 
as  not  only  had  Frangois,  Due  d'Alen9on,  d'Anjou,  de 
Brabant,  and  half  a  dozen  other  places,  died  miserably  of 
consumption  in  1584,  but  Queen  Louise  de  Vaud^mont 
still  showed  no  signs  of  bearing  children  to  Henri  III. 

The  King,  who  was  terrified  of  the  power  of  the 
ultra-Catholic  League,  with  the  Guises  at  its  head  and 
the  support  of  Phihp  II.  behind  it,  had  already  sought 
for  the  help  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  who  had  very  recently 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  257 

loyally  informed  his  brother-in-law  of  propositions  made 
to  him  by  Spain  to  join  in  making  war  upon  Henri  III. 

Philip  II.,  who  had  already  had  four  wives,  had  at  the 
same  time  requested  the  hand  of  Catherine  de  Bourbon, 
the  young  Protestant  Princess  of  Navarre,  who  had 
declined  the  honour  of  marrying  the  King  of  the  In- 
quisition. 

While  asking  for  the  King  of  Navarre's  help,  Henri 
III.  had  made  a  proviso  ;  this  was  that  he  should  change 
his  religion  and  come  to  the  Court  of  France  to  assume 
his  proper  place  as  heir  to  the  throne.  The  King  well 
knew  that,  should  his  brother-in-law  accede  to  this 
request,  the  wind  would  be  entirely  taken  out  of  the  sails 
of  the  Due  de  Guise  and  the  League. 

When  the  King  of  Navarre  declined  to  agree,  the  weak 
King  had  no  choice  but  to  accept  all  that  the  League 
proposed.  He  did  so  the  more  readily,  perhaps,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  his  favourite  mignon^  Joyeuse,  favoured  the 
League,  although  his  other  favourite,  the  Due  d'Epernon, 
was  inclined  towards  the  Politique,  or  Moderate  Catholic, 
party,  and  boldly  proposed  to  the  King  to  make  war  upon 
the  League,  and  snap  his  figures  at  their  proposals.  The 
counsels  of  the  Due  de  Joyeuse,  however,  prevailed,  and 
the  King  not  only  gave  him  his  sister-in-law,  Marguerite 
de  Vaudemont,  in  marriage,  but  an  immense  sum  of  money 
as  well.  In  order  that  d'Epernon  should  not  be  jealous, 
Henri  III.  at  the  same  time  gave  him  a  large  marriage 
portion,  although  the  wife  to  whom  he  caused  d'Epernon 
to  be  affianced  had  not  yet  reached  a  marriageable  age. 

All  was  going  on  with  the  usual  frivolity  at  the  Court 
of  France,  where,  in  spite  of  his  cares,  Henri  III.  still 
wasted  the  substance  of  the  State  in  extravagant  festivities 
in  honour  of  his  favourites,  still  played  at  cup-and-ball, 


258         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

wore  baskets  containing  small  puppies  hanging  from  his 
neck,  and  surrounded  himself  with  parrots,  dogs,  monkeys, 
and  finally  human  dwarfs. 

When  the  fact  became  known  to  the  Huguenots  that 
the  King  had  capitulated  to  the  League  it  was  evident 
that  there  must  be  war,  unless  the  Protestant  party  would 
allow  itself  to  be  entirely  rooted  out  of  France  and  Navarre. 

Du  Plessis-Mornay  wrote  an  eloquent  appeal  to 
Queen  Elizabeth  for  assistance,  and  at  the  same  time  war 
was  declared  against  the  League  in  the  name  of  the  King 
of  Navarre,  Henri,  Prince  de  Conde,  and  of  the  Politique 
leader  Damville,  now  become  Marechal  Due  de  Mont- 
morency. This  latter  declared  that  he  refused  to  become 
a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  Guises,  the  enemies  of  his 
House,  and  for  that  reason  should  join  the  Protestants, 
There  were  many  other  Catholic  nobles  who  also  with- 
drew themselves  from  the  Holy  League,  which  they  had 
formerly  joined,  from  hatred  of  the  Guise  faction  and 
disgust  at  the  manner  in  which  it  was  trampling  upon 
the  Crown. 

Having  sketched  the  events  which  led  up  to  the  war, 
we  cannot  follow  it  out  in  all  its  details,  but  must  mention 
that,  during  its  continuance,  the  loving  Comtesse  de 
Gramont  showed  herself  possessed  of  a  valiant  and  self- 
sacrificing  spirit.  She  owned  large  estates ;  these  she 
mortgaged,  her  ample  supply  of  jewellery  was  put  in 
pawn,  and  the  proceeds  went  towards  providing  men  and 
horses  for  her  lover.  Hers  was  a  love  which  shrank 
from  no  sacrifice,  and,  realising  this,  the  gratitude  of 
Henri  knew  no  bounds.  Had  he  but  been  free  of  his 
wife.  Marguerite,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  redeemed 
his  debt  to  the  Comtesse  by  marrying  her. 

In  the  beginning  of  March  1586,  the  King  of  Navarre 


HENRI    DE    BOURbON,    PRIN'CE    DE    CONDE 
{From  an  old  print  after  Janet) 


259 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         261 

gained  a  success  over  the  Mar^chal  de  Matignon.  When 
he  caused  this  doughty  warrior  to  raise  the  siege  of 
a  place  called  Castel,  Henri  captured  several  of  the 
enemy's  standards.  He  could  not  resist  flying  off  to 
see  his  lady-love  and  to  receive  her  congratulations  upon 
his  success,  and  then — for  the  first  time — he  took  her, 
as  a  trophy,  the  captured  colours. 

In  that  same  year,  1586,  the  King  of  Navarre  was 
so  carried  away  by  his  ever-increasing  passion  for  Cori- 
sande  that  he  determined,  by  any  available  means,  to  get 
rid  of  his  wife  and  carry  out  the  promise  he  had  made 
of  marriage  with  his  fair  paramour.  The  Vicomte  de 
Turenne  and  d'Aubign^  were  both  exceedingly  grieved, 
and  both  showed  their  disapprobation. 

The  difference,  however,  in  the  conduct  of  the  two 
was  marked.  "  Le  bon  amy,"  as  d'Aubigne  calls  Henri 
de  La  Tour  d'Auvergne,  shrank  from  openly  expressing 
all  that  he  thought,  and  took  advantage  of  an  excuse 
to  absent  himself  in  order  to  avoid  the  disagreeable  task. 
The  courageous  Agrippa,  on  the  other  hand,  flinched  at 
nothing.  The  "  fidMe  serviteur,"  as  he  calls  himself, 
accordingly  remained  behind  when  Turenne  left,  and 
soon  tackled  his  master  in  his  usual  downright  fashion. 

He  had  a  good  opportunity  given  him  when,  one 
morning,  Henri  de  Navarre  entertained  his  faithful 
follower  for  more  than  two  hours  at  a  stretch  with  a 
disquisition  upon  "  some  thirty  ancient  and  modern 
Princes  who  had  found  themselves  happy  after  having 
married,  for  their  pleasure,  persons  of  less  condition 
than  themselves."  He  next  proceeded  to  expound  to 
d'Aubigne  the  folly  of  seeking  grand  alliances,  and  the 
iniquity  of  those  who  possessed  a  passionate  nature  and 
yet  married  without  passion. 


262         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

D'Aubigne  gave  his  master  plenty  of  rope,  but  when 
he  had  listened  for  a  good  two  hours  and  a  half  he  had 
his  own  innings.  Then,  if  the  honest  historian  only 
said  half  that  he  tells  us  he  did,  he  certainly  gave  Henri 
plenty  of  good  reasons  why  he  should  not  marry  the 
Comtesse  de  Gramont. 

"  Those  examples,  Sire,"  he  remarked,  "  are  fine  and 
useless  for  you,  for  the  Princes  you  name  were  in  a 
peaceful  condition,  not  hunted  about,  not  wanderers  like 
you,  of  whom  the  soul  and  the  State  have  no  other 
support  than  your  good  renown.  You  ought  to  consider, 
Sire,  that  in  you  are  four  conditions,  which  make  so  many 
differences  :  Henri,  the  King  of  Navarre,  the  Successor 
to  the  Crown,  and  the  Protector  of  the  Churches. 
Each  of  these  four  persons  has  his  separate  servitors, 
whom  you  must  pay  in  different  coinage,  according 
to  their  separate  functions.  You  owe  it  to  those  who 
serve  Henri  to  commit  Henri,  that  is  to  say,  the  estates 
of  your  House  ;  to  the  servants  of  the  King  of  Navarre 
you  owe  the  offices  of  your  Sovereignty  ;  to  those  who 
follow  the  Heir-apparent  you  must  pay  in  hope,  since 
hope  attracts  them,  and  by  its  fair  appearance  entices 
them  to  the  monster  of  your  fortunes. 

"  But  the  reward  of  those  who  serve  the  Protector  of 
the  Churches  is  hard  for  a  Prince.  It  is  zeal,  good  actions, 
integrity,  payment  of  those  who  are  your  servitors  in 
any  respect — among  others,  are  your  companions — but 
upon  the  condition  that  they  leave  you  the  smallest  share 
of  the  dangers  that  they  can,  but  all  the  honours  and 
advantages  of  the  war." 

When  once  dAubign^  was  fairly  started  he  was 
nearly  as  long-winded  as  Henri  himself,  but  he  was  not 
altogether  without  a  sense  of  diplomacy.     Accordingly, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  263 

after  speaking  roughly  to  his  master  at  first,  he  let  him 
down  easy,  was  careful  to  make  excuses  for  the  King's 
passion,  and,  far  from  blaming  it,  encouraged  it,  upon 
conditions.  These  were  that,  instead  of  finding  in  his 
amours  the  excuse  for  idleness,  dalliance,  and  soft  repose, 
he  should  show  himself  worthy  of  his  mistress,  use  his 
love  as  a  source  of  inspiration  to  noble  deeds  and  victory 
in  the  field.  When  the  war  should  be  finished,  and  the 
victory  attained,  he  might  then  marry  his  mistress  ;  it 
might  be  even  a  laudable  action,  but  he  must  promise  to 
delay  the  thoughts  of  the  marriage  for  two  years. 

D'Aubigne  was  cunning  in  asking  for  this  two  years* 
delay,  for  he  thought  that  a  good  deal  might  happen 
in  that  time  to  divert  his  master's  thoughts  into  other 
channels,  as  indeed  did. 

Some  of  his  advice,  however,  was  really  excellent  and 
straightforward.  Such  was,  for  instance  :  "  Like  the 
Councils  which  you  shun,  employ  the  most  favourable 
time  for  necessary  action  ;  overcome  little  domestic  vices 
which,  injure  you.  Then,  when  you  are  victorious  over 
both  the  enemy  and  your  poverty,  you  can  follow  the 
example  of  those  Princes  whom  you  talk  about,  for  your 
condition  will  resemble  theirs." 

The  King  of  Navarre  thanked  d'Aubigne  for  his 
advice,  and  swore,  on  his  oath,  not  to  think  of  marrying 
the  Comtesse  for  the  space  of  two  years. 


16 


CHAPTER   XXV 

Marguerite    Queen    of   Agen 

1585 

It  had  not  been  until  after  endless  negotiations  between 
Henri  III.  and  his  brother-in-law  that  the  latter,  in  the 
spring  of  1584,  had  agreed  to  take  back  his  wife.  The 
astute  King  of  Navarre  was  clever  enough  to  make  a 
good  bargain  with  the  King  of  France  over  this  matter  of 
receiving  once  more  the  Princess  whose  reputation  had 
so  ruthlessly  been  taken  away  by  her  own  brother.  It 
was  not  until  Henri  III.  had  complied  with  the  request 
to  remove  the  garrisons  of  the  Marechal  de  Matignon 
from  the  cities  of  Condom,  Agen,  and  Bazus  that  Henri 
wrote  :  "  I  will  go  to  N^rac,  to  receive  my  wife  there." 

Henri  III.  was  delighted  with  Pomponne  de  Belli^vre, 
who  had  conducted  the  negotiations  which  led  to  the 
settlement  of  the  matter,  for  he  had  long  since  realised 
what  a  fool  he  had  made  of  himself  by  the  brutal  manner 
in  which  he  had  conducted  himself  towards  Marguerite. 
Before  this  Princess  left  her  refuge  at  Agen,  to  be  recon- 
ciled with  her  husband  at  Nerac,  Catherine  de  Medicis 
considered  it  necessary  to  write  her  daughter  a  long 
letter  of  advice  as  to  her  future  conduct. 

After  telling  the  Queen  of  Navarre  that  the  company 
that  she  might  keep  would  either  affect  her  honourably 

264 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre  265 

or  dishonourably,  Catherine  administered  to  Marguerite 
some  casuistic  advice  concerning  the  points  to  be  observed 
by  "  a  princess  who  was  young,  and  who  considered  her- 
self beautiful.  Above  all,  she  should  not  again  make  too 
much  of  those  with  whom  her  husband  should  indulge  in 
love-affairs,  for  he  will  think  that  she  will  be  very  glad  to 
have  him  loving  something  else,  so  that  she  can  do  the 
same  on  her  side.  Nor  should  she  again  allow  him  to 
indulge  in  amours  in  her  household,  with  her  ladies  and 
her  girls — never  should  woman  who  loves  her  husband 
love  his  paramour." 

From  this  letter  it  will  be  noticed  that  Catherine  de 
M^dicis  excelled  in  giving  advice  which  she  had  never 
followed  herself,  since  who  had  been  more  intimate  with 
her  husband's  paramour  than  she  herself  with  Diane 
de  Poitiers  .? 

The  meeting  between  husband  and  wife  took  place  at 
Porte-Sainte-Marie  in  the  middle  of  April  1584,  the 
separation  having  lasted  a  couple  of  years.  We  can 
imagine  that  it  was  not  without  a  certain  amount  of 
trepidation  that  Marguerite  returned  to  the  bosom  of  her 
family,  especially  as  Pibrac,  who  had  caused  his  mistress's 
horoscope  to  be  drawn,  had  some  time  previously  in- 
formed her  that  she  would  die  by  her  husband's  hand. 

Marguerite  arrived  first  at  the  place  of  rendezvous,  to 
which  she  had  travelled  in  her  golden  litter.  When 
Henri  arrived  in  turn  at  the  house  where  she  had 
descended,  he  kissed  her  without  a  word.  Then  they 
mounted  together  to  a  first-floor  room,  and,  after  show- 
ing themselves  to  the  people  from  a  window,  retired 
together  to  the  back  of  the  apartment  for  half  an  hour. 
Then  the  journey  to  Nerac  was  continued,  Henri  riding 
by    his   wife's   side   and    conversing   amiably   with   her. 


266         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

There  they  arrived  at  four  o'clock  ;  but  that  Marguerite 
was  by  no  means  happy  upon  that  day  of  her  return  is 
evident,  from  the  relation  of  an  envoy  from  the  Prince  de 
Conde,  who  was  then  present  at  Nerac. 

This  gentleman  was  named  Michel  de  la  Huguerye, 
and,  from  his  Memoirs,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the 
Secretary  du  Pin,  who  had  formerly  been  so  antagonistic 
to  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  was  back  again  in  her  husband's 
service.  This  in  itself  would  be  felt  as  a  humiliation 
by  the  prodigal  Queen  upon  her  return  to  the  fold  of 
Navarre. 

Conde's  envoy  relates  :  "  Shortly  after  I  had  left  the 
Sieur  du  Pin  the  King  and  the  Queen,  his  wife,  arrived. 
They  remained  alone,  walking  up  and  down  the  gallery 
of  the  chateau  until  the  evening,  where  I  saw  this  Princess 
repeatedly  burst  into  tears,  in  such  a  manner  that,  when 
they  were  at  table,  where  I  watched  them,  it  being  late 
and  by  candle-light,  I  never  saw  a  face  more  bathed  in 
tears  nor  eyes  more  reddened.  And  I  felt  great  pity 
for  this  Princess,  seeing  her  seated  by  her  husband's  side, 
who  listened  to  all  kinds  of  foolish  conversation  from  the 
gentlemen  who  were  about  him,  without  either  he  or 
any  one  else  addressing  a  word  to  the  Princess.  This 
made  me  well  believe  that  which  du  Pin  had  already  told 
me,  to  the  effect  that  it  was  only  by  force  that  he  had 
received  her. 

La  Huguerye  says  further  that,  having  withdrawn 
without  having  been  noticed  by  the  King  of  Navarre, 
he  foresaw  that  the  reconciliation  could  scarcely  last 
long.  In  spite,  however,  of  being  treated  so  cavaUerly 
at  first.  Marguerite,  for  whom,  in  spite  of  her  faults,  we 
can  but  feel  sorry,  thought  fit  to  bravely  put  a  good  face 
on  the  matter  in  writing  to  her  mother.     She  informed 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  267 

Catherine  that  '*  her  husband  and  friends  "  had  received 
her  with  good  cheer,  and  that  she  herself  remained 
contented. 

Henri,  however,  bore  malice  against  his  wife,  and, 
as  prophesied  by  La  Huguerye,  the  reconciliation  proved 
only  a  sham.  There  was  the  greater  reason  for  this  from 
the  fact  that.  Marguerite  being  now  in  disgrace  at  the 
Court  of  France,  Henri  could  find  her  of  no  further  use 
to  him  in  the  forwarding  of  his  plans.  Then  followed 
the  death  of  Fran9ois  d'Alen9on,  in  June  1584,  and,  as  a 
result,  the  greatly  altered  situation  of  Henri  de  Navarre, 
who  had  become  heir  to  the  French  throne.  At  the 
same  time,  the  loss  of  her  brother  was  a  terrible  blow 
to  Marguerite,  as  the  two  had  always  backed  each  other 
up,  and  by  his  death  she  lost  her  sole  remaining  support 
at  the  Court. 

The  Queen  of  Navarre  now  realised  how  helpless  she 
had  become,  for  shortly  after  her  return  to  N6rac  the 
Due  d'Epernon,  one  of  the  mignons  who  had  backed  up 
Henri  III.  in  the  disgraceful  scene  at  the  Louvre,  arrived 
on  a  mission  to  N^rac.  Before  his  arrival  she  had  declared 
that  on  no  account  would  she  receive  the  King's  mignon^ 
her  deadly  enemy  ;  rather,  she  said,  would  she  withdraw 
herself  from  her  husband's  Court  during  his  visit.  Such 
pressure  was,  however,  put  upon  the  helpless  Queen, 
both  by  the  Queen-Mother  and  her  husband,  that  she 
was  forced  to  give  way.  The  result  was  that,  according 
to  Brantome,  when  the  Due  arrived  "  she  disguised  her 
feelings  so  that,  upon  M.  d'Epernon  arriving  in  her 
chamber,  she  received  him  in  the  same  way  as  the  King 
had  begged  her  ;  so  well,  indeed,  that  all  present  were 
filled  with  astonishment." 

Constant  quarrels  ensued  between  the  husband  and 


268         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

wife.  Henry,  indeed,  was  frequently  absent  at  Pau  with 
his  beloved  Corisande,  and  Marguerite  was  thus  left 
alone  at  N6rac.  When  the  King  was,  however,  present, 
he  refused  to  treat  her  as  his  wife. 

Lestoille  says  that,  after  her  return,  he  never  once 
shared  the  same  couch  with  her,  and  further,  that  he 
accused  her  of  seeking  to  get  rid  of  him  by  poison,  to 
be  administered  by  a  certain  Secretary,  named  Ferrand, 
sent  to  Pau  for  the  purpose. 

Henri  caused  this  Ferrand  to  be  arrested  ;  but, 
although  the  German  Ambassador  Busbecq  relates,  as  a 
fact,  this  attempted  poisoning — even  going  so  far  as  to 
say  that  the  poison  was  not  strong  enough,  when  Ferrand 
used  a  pistol  without  result — the  Due  de  Bouillon  tells 
another  story. 

He  puts  down  the  comings  and  goings  of  Ferrand  to 
the  secret  intelligence  of  Marguerite  with  the  Due  de 
Guise  and  the  League,  "in  the  practices  of  which  the 
Queen  Marguerite  evidently  participated,"  and  says  that 
he  himself  counselled  Ferrand's  arrest. 

Ferrand  was,  however,  a  French  subject,  and,  accord- 
ingly, when  Henri  III.  and  Catherine  learned  of  his 
arrest  on  Navarrese  soil,  they  raised  such  an  outcry  that 
the  Secretary  had  to  be  released. 

A  great  quarrel  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  1585, 
when  the  confidante  of  Marguerite,  the  wife  of  the 
Mardchal  de  Matignon,  made  known  to  her  husband  a 
plot  in  which  the  Queen  of  Navarre  was  engaged  with 
Philip  II.  to  retire  to  Spain.  We  need  not  go  into  this 
affair  beyond  saying  that  Philip  intended  to  obtain  a 
divorce  for  Marguerite,  and  to  make  use  of  her  in  some 
way  to  dispute,  later,  the  succession  of  her  husband  to 
the  French  Crown.     It,  however,  occasioned  a  consider- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  269 

able  sensation  both  in  France  and  Navarre,  and  it  was 
only  after  de  Belli^vre  arrived  once  more,  as  mediator, 
that  matters  were  arranged,  and  Marguerite  promised 
"to  love  her  husband,  and  to  continue  to  live  with 
him." 

Meanwhile,  even  in  Paris,  the  League  was  gaining 
power,  and  the  conduct  of  Henri  III.  was  such  as  daily 
to  make  himself  more  detested  by  the  people.  His 
constant  public  observance  of  religious  ceremonies  and 
processions  imposed  on  nobody,  especially  when,  under 
the  cloak  of  religion,  **  he  did  not  cease  from  going  to 
see  the  little  nuns,  would  not  stir  from  their  convents 
and  abbeys,  and  made  love  to  them." 

As  the  power  of  the  League  increased,  and  as  Mar- 
guerite found  herself  more  and  more  neglected,  so  did 
she  get  closer  into  touch  with,  her  old  lover,  the  Due  de 
Guise. 

At  length,  as  we  have  already  related,  the  King  of 
Navarre  sent  messengers  to  Paris,  in  reply  to  the  em- 
bassy of  d'Epernon,  to  say  that  he  would  not  change  his 
religion. 

This  gave  the  Leaguers  the  chance  for  which  they 
had  been  waiting.  They  declared  Charles,  Cardinal  de 
Bourbon,  the  uncle  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  the  heir 
to  the  throne  ;  while  the  uncle  himself  published  a 
manifesto  against  his  nephew,  saying  that  the  Kingdom 
would  never  accept  a  relapsed  heretic  as  its  King. 

Marguerite  declared  herself  for  the  League;  that  is 
to  say,  she  placed  herself  on  the  side  of  the  party  which 
was  opposed  both  to  her  detested  brother,  Henri  IIL, 
and,  her  more  than  casual  husband,  Henri  de  Navarre. 

Now  happened  an  event  which  might  have  caused  a 
disastrous  end  to  Marguerite,  had  it  not  been  for  the 


270         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

humanity  and  good  sense  of  her  old  opponent,  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne.  Henri  de  Navarre's  mistress,  the  Comtesse 
de  Gramont,  is  said  to  have  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  affair 
of  the  accusation  of  Marguerite  in  connection  with  Ferrand. 
Corisande  is  supposed,  very  naturally,  to  have  stirred  up 
Henri  to  get  rid  of  his  wife  upon  this  occasion,  in  order 
that  he  might  redeem  the  promise  of  marriage  he  had 
given  her.  The  accusation  was  brought  before  the 
Council  of  Navarre,  when  d'Aubigne  defended  Mar- 
guerite, whom  he  by  no  means  liked.  He  himself  tells 
us,  in  his  Mimoires,  that  the  advice  of  all  was  to  put  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  to  death ;  but  that  he  caused  the 
Council  to  change  their  decision,  "  for  which  the  King, 
her  husband,  greatly  thanked  me." 

Marguerite  at  length  determined  to  take  advantage 
of  the  troubles  being  caused  by  the  League,  who  were 
about  to  rise  in  arms,  to  effect  her  escape  from  her 
husband's  Court,  where  she  was  not  wanted. 

She  had  already,  with  considerable  sagacity  and 
military  judgment,  laid  her  plans  in  Agen,  where  she 
had  made  herself  very  popular  by  endowing  the  Jesuits, 
and  had  likewise  contrived  to  get  rid  of  her  brother's 
troops.  After  her  return  to  Nerac  she  kept  up  her  good 
relations  with  the  people  of  Agen,  and  it  would  seem, 
from  what  Brant6me  says,  that  she  had  it  in  her  head, 
after  retiring  to  that  place,  to  declare  herself  the  heir  to 
the  Crown  of  France,  in  the  place  of  her  husband,  by 
procuring  the  revocation  of  the  Salic  Law. 

At  length,  at  Easter  1585,  Marguerite  demanded 
from  the  B6arnais  the  permission  to  go  and  take  the 
Easter  Sacraments  at  Agen.  He  by  no  means  objected, 
but  said  smilingly  :  *'  Go  by  all  means,  my  dear  ;  and 
don't  forget  to  pray  for  me." 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  271 

With  a  suite  of  only  a  few  gentlemen  and  ladies,  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  accordingly  arrived  at  Agen  ;  but  no 
sooner  had  she  arrived  than  all  the  Catholic  nobility  of 
the  neighbourhood  flocked  to  her  banner.  Then,  while 
neither  Matignon,  watching  the  place  in  the  King's 
interests,  nor  Henri  de  Navarre  knew  what  she  was 
about,  Marguerite  raised  troops,  and  then  more  troops, 
until  she  had  quite  a  respectable  garrison. 

Having  done  this,  she  established  her  Sovereignty 
definitely  by  compelling  the  burghers  to  deliver  over  into 
her  charge  the  keys  of  the  gates  of  the  city.  Having 
obtained  the  keys,  Marguerite's  next  move  was  to  make 
all  the  inhabitants  swear  fealty  to  her,  while  declaring  that 
Agen  and  all  Agenais  was  hers,  and  that  she  intended  to 
reign  and  govern  there.  Her  next  move  was  to  raise 
yet  other  companies  of  troops,  both  cavalry  and  infantry, 
and  then  to  send  for  her  two  former  favourites,  Madame 
de  Duras  and  Mademoiselle  de  Bethune.  She  had 
already  entrusted  the  military  command  of  the  city  to 
the  husband  of  the  former,  the  Vicomte  de  Duras. 

Marguerite  received  considerable  assistance  in  her 
various  manoeuvres  from  the  Seigneur  de  Lignerac,  who 
was  the  Bailli  of  the  Mountains  of  Auvergne.  Of  this 
noble,  who  brought  to  her  aid  a  fine  body  of  cavalry, 
she  soon  made  a  conquest,  and,  with  the  encouragement 
of  this  enterprising  lover,  she  went  yet  further.  The 
Queen  of  Navarre  now  asserted  her  independence  of 
her  husband  ;  she  no  longer  called  him  King  of  Navarre, 
but  only  the  Prince  of  Beam,  while  all  her  own  acts, 
deeds,  appointments,  and  proclamations  she  signed,  in 
right  Royal  style,  as  *'  Marguerite  de  France." 

The  independence  of  Marguerite  de  France  having 
been   thus    established   with    but    little    difliculty,    this 


272         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Sovereign  of  Agenais  next  proceeded  to  wage  war  upon 
her  husband.  Unfortunately,  her  attempts  at  the  con- 
quest of  various  cities  proved  unsuccessful,  and  when 
she  had  actually  captured  M^zeray,  the  garrison  that  she 
had  left  in  the  place  was  cut  to  pieces  by  the  King  of 
Navarre. 

In  front  of  the  strong  city  of  Villeneuve  Marguerite 
appeared  with  her  troops  in  person,  and  actually  occupied 
a  part  of  the  defences.  It  was  only  owing  to  the 
foolish  action  of  her  followers  that  she  did  not  obtain 
possession  of  this  place  before,  owing  to  a  clever  ruse 
on  the  part  of  the  defenders,  her  army  was  led  to  believe 
that  the  whole  of  the  forces  of  the  King  of  Navarre  had 
come  to  join  with  the  garrison  in  a  counter-attack.  The 
Queen  rapidly  retired  upon  Agen  with  her  forces,  and  lost 
many  men  of  her  rear-guard  in  the  retreat. 

To  follow  out  in  detail  this  petty  war,  in  which 
Marguerite  was  engaged  at  the  same  time  with  the 
Royal  troops  of  Matignon  and  the  Huguenot  forces  of 
Navarre,  would  be  tedious.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
before  long  Marguerite's  sway  did  not  extend  more  than 
a  league  beyond  the  walls  of  Agen.  Here  she  might  for 
long  have  remained  supreme  had  it  not  been  for  her 
folly  in  making  her  Principal  Minister  of  the  disreputable 
Vicomtesse  de  Duras.  This  unprincipled  and  immoral 
woman  placed  such  heavy  taxes  on  the  inhabitants  that 
they  were  before  long  reduced  to  beggary.  Not  content 
with  these  exactions,  the  soldiers  were  allowed  to  pillage 
the  burghers  at  will,  the  only  crime  punished  by 
Marguerite  being  that  of  three  soldiers  whom  she 
caused  to  be  hanged  for  an  act  of  outrage  upon  an 
unfortunate  woman  in  her  husband's  presence.  To  add 
to  the  misfortunes  of  the  inhabitants  of  Agen,  they  were 


and  of  Marguerite  dc  Valois  273 

now  decimated  by  the  ravages  of  the  plague.  Marguerite, 
however,  caused  the  gates  to  be  closed,  and  would 
not  allow  a  single  person  to  escape  from  the  city.  She 
persisted  in  calmly  asserting  that  the  plague  was  a  myth, 
only  invented  by  the  citizens  in  order  to  induce  her  to 
leave  Agen  with  her  troops. 

At  this  period  (July  1585)  her  friend,  the  Due  de 
Guise,  and  the  Leaguers,  who  had  been  in  arms  against 
Henri  III.,  came  to  the  arrangement  with  the  King 
called  the  Peace  of  Nemours.  Marguerite's  position  now 
appeared  to  be  strengthened,  as  by  this  treaty  all  Princes 
attached  to  the  League  were  absolved  from  the  conse- 
quences of  their  recent  warlike  actions.  It  was  now  only 
from  the  forces  of  the  Huguenots  that  Marguerite 
imagined  that  she  had  anything  to  fear,  and,  upon  the 
advice  of  Lignerac,  she  determined  to  strengthen  her 
position  against  both  the  King  of  Navarre  and  her  own 
subjects,  who  had  been  driven  to  a  state  bordering  upon 
rebellion. 

Now  it  was  that  one  of  the  most  arbitrary  actions 
of  her  short  reign  in  Agen  took  place — it  was,  in 
fact,  one  of  the  most  arbitrary  actions  of  any  reign. 
The  Queen  of  Navarre  determined  to  erect  a  citadel 
which  should  dominate  the  river  Garonne  and  the 
country  towards  N6rac  and,  at  the  same  time,  be  in 
a  position  to  fire  upon  the  town  itself.  She  proposed 
to  make  this  citadel  occupy  the  site  of  more  than  a 
quarter  of  the  city.  In  order  to  be  constructive,  the 
military  ideas  of  this  Royal  lady  were  primarily  de- 
structive. After  the  fashion  of  Cheops  when  building 
the  large  Pyramid  of  Gizeh,  Marguerite  ordered  all  of 
her  people  to  turn  out  to  work  without  pay.  With 
pick  and  shovel  they  were  commanded  to  knock  down 


274         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

their  own  residences.  The  work  was  going  on  gaily, 
several  of  the  principal  streets  had  been  levelled  with 
the  ground,  when  the  worm  turned.  The  people  went 
secretly  to  the  Mardchal  de  Matignon,  and  asked  him 
to  attack  the  city.  He  was  afraid  to  do  this,  lest  one 
day  he  might  have  to  suffer  from  the  vengeance  of 
Marguerite,  as  Biron  had  already  felt  the  weight  of  her 
displeasure  for  his  little  pleasantry  at  N6rac.  Never- 
theless, knowing  that  he  would  have  the  King  behind 
him,  Matignon  authorised  the  people  of  Agen  to  rise, 
provided  that  they  should  offer  no  violence  '*  to  the 
Queen  of  Navarre,  to  whom  all  honour  and  respect 
was  due,  or  to  her  ladies."  They  rose  accordingly,  and, 
after  a  bloody  struggle,  Marguerite  was  compelled  to 
fly  on  the  croup  of  a  horse  behind  her  lover,  Lignerac. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

The  Flags  of  Coutras 
1587 

In  the  year  1587  King  Henri  III.  made  a  great  show 
of  a  warlike  spirit.  He  declared  to  the  people  of  Paris, 
when  asking  them  for  money,  which,  upon  their  refusal, 
he  took,  that  he  would  go  to  the  wars  himself,  and  die 
if  required. 

Henri  had  indeed  the  intention  of  going  to  the  war, 
but  it  was  more  with  the  desire  of  preventing  the 
aggrandisement  of  the  Guises,  and  to  delay  their  opera- 
tions, than  with  any  view  of  crushing  the  Politique- 
Huguenot  combination. 

Accordingly,  having  annexed  by  force  the  rentes  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  he  did  not  devote  any  of  the  funds 
so  unlawfully  seized  to  the  improvement  of  the  forces 
under  the  respective  commands  of  the  Dues  de  Guise 
and  Mayenne. 

On  the  contrary,  he  devoted  the  greater  part  of  it 
to  a  series  of  extravagant  fetes  to  celebrate  the  marriage 
of  his  favourite,  d'Epernon,  to  whom  he  had  now  given, 
as  a  wife,  the  young  Comtesse  de  Foix-Candale. 

Joyeuse,  the  rival  of  d'Epernon,  was  away  from  the 
Louvre,  having  been  given  command  of  an  army,  with 
which  he  captured  several  small  Protestant  towns,  whose 

27s 


276         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

inhabitants  he  butchered  after  their  surrender.  D'Eper- 
non  was  accordingly  now  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  King, 
to  show  his  love  for  his  mignon,  spared  absolutely  no 
expense. 

At  the  time  that  Joyeuse  had  been  married  to  one 
of  the  King's  sisters-in-law,  Henri  III.  had  also  caused 
d'Epernon  to  be  betrothed  to  another  girl  of  the  Lorraine 
family  of  Vaud6mont.  Although  too  young  for  marriage, 
this  child's  dowry  of  four  hundred  thousand  golden 
crowns  had  been  paid  to  d'Epernon,  Joyeuse  having 
received  a  similar  amount.  The  King  had,  since  that 
date,  declared  his  hatred  of  everything  to  do  with 
Guise  or  Lorraine,  and  consequently  provided  his  mignon 
d'Epernon  with  another  wife,  to  whom  he  presented 
a  necklace  of  a  hundred  pearls,  each  of  which  cost  a 
thousand  crowns.  At  the  same  time  he  presented 
d'Epernon  with  a  second  marriage  portion,  of  the  same 
amount  as  that  which  he  had  already  received. 

Guise,  very  unwillingly,  attended  the  wedding,  and,  to 
his  great  disgust,  was  a  witness  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
sinews  of  war  were  being  dissipated.  Nor  was  the  disgust 
of  this  Prince  of  the  House  of  Lorraine  lessened  when 
Henri  IIL  commanded  him  and  the  bridegroom  to 
embrace.  These  two  deadly  enemies  obeyed  the  com- 
mand, but  only  hated  each  other  all  the  more  after 
having  given  to  one  another  the  supposed  kiss  of 
friendship. 

Joyeuse  now  left  his  army,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
King's  favour  once  more,  and  in  his  absence  the  King  of 
Navarre  and  the  Vicomte  de  Turenne  (afterwards  Due  de 
Bouillon)  gained  several  small  successes.  The  Due  de 
Joyeuse,  however,  swearing  that  he  would  bring  back 
the  heads  of  the  two  Henris,  of  Cond6   and  Navarre, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  277 

soon  went  back  to  his  command,  followed  by  all  the 
magnificent  young  nobles  of  the  Court.  With  the 
utmost  gaiety  and  splendour,  this  pleasure-party  of 
pleasure-loving  gentlemen  set  forth  upon  their  enterprise, 
in  the  early  autumn  of  1587. 

The  King  of  Navarre  and  Turenne  had,  however, 
greatly  improved  their  forces  while  Joyeuse  had  been 
away  ;  two  notable  recruits  also  came  over  to  the 
Huguenot  side.  These  were  the  two  Catholic  brothers 
of  the  Prince  de  Conde,  the  Prince  de  Conti  and  the 
Comte  de  Soissons,  which  latter  we  have  already  men- 
tioned as  the  lover  of  Catherine  of  Navarre.  The  King 
of  Navarre  was  expecting  a  large  force  of  Germans  and 
Swiss  to  join  him  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  river  Loire, 
when  he  found  that  Joyeuse,  being  about  to  effect  a 
junction  with  the  Marechal  de  Matignon,  would  in  all 
probability  be  strong  enough  to  crush  his  forces  while  on 
the  way  to  join  the  Germans.  He  endeavoured,  there- 
fore, at  first  to  elude  Joyeuse,  when  he  found  that  this 
giddy  young  noble  was  following  him  without  waiting  to 
be  joined  by  Matignon. 

A  race  was  now  run  between  advance-parties  of  the 
two  forces  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  river  Dronne, 
near  Coutras,  on  the  confines  of  Guyenne  and  Angoumais. 
In  this  race  to  the  river  Dronne,  Henri  de  Navarre's 
lieutenant.  La  Tremouille,  just  beat  de  Lavardin,  who 
belonged  to  the  army  of  Joyeuse.  A  fight  took  place 
between  the  two  parties,  but  the  Huguenots  succeeded  in 
holding  the  passage  of  the  river,  indeed  of  the  two  rivers, 
the  Dronne  and  the  Isle,  which  join  at  Coutras. 

Henri  de  Navarre,  following  his  lieutenant,  threw  the 
greater  portion  of  his  baggage  across  the  river.  His 
intention  being  to  wait  for  Joyeuse  on  the  other  side,  his 


278         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

artillery  was  being  sent  after  the  baggage  when  he  learned 
that  Joyeuse  was  rapidly  advancing.  Bringing  back  his 
artillery,  although  his  forces  were  far  less  in  numbers 
than  those  of  the  King  of  France,  Henri  placed  his  guns 
— he  had  but  three — in  position,  and  waited  for  the 
enemy. 

The  night  of  October  19th,  1587,  was  passed  in 
making  preparations,  and  in  the  morning,  to  please  the 
Huguenot  pastors  present  with  his  force,  Henri  de 
Navarre  made  a  public  avowal  of  his  penitence  for  the 
immoralities  of  his  life. 

The  army  of  Joyeuse  not  only  excelled  in  numbers 
but  in  the  splendour  of  the  armour  and  accoutrements  of 
those  by  whom  it  was  composed.  The  light-hearted 
young  nobles  who  had  followed  the  King's  mignon  were, 
however,  with  their  horses,  covered  with  useless  articles 
of  satin  and  gold  embroidery,  which  glistened  in  the 
morning  sun. 

Discipline  and  knowledge  of  warfare  were,  however, 
on  the  side  of  the  Bearnais,  whose  military  genius  was, 
moreover,  of  an  entirely  different  caHbre  from  the  strategic 
knowledge  of  the  brave  but  frivolous  young  Due  de 
Joyeuse. 

Just  as  the  battle  commenced,  by  the  first  discharges 
of  the  artillery  of  the  Royal  army,  the  men  of  Navarre 
threw  themselves  on  their  knees,  while  the  pastors  led  off 
with  a  psalm,  in  which  all  joined.  The  nobles  of  the 
Catholic  army  laughed  gaily  :  "  They  are  afraid,  the 
wretches — they  fall  on  their  knees  to  beg  for  mercy  !  " 

At  this  moment  Henri  addressed  his  cousin  Conde, 
who  had  previously  shown  considerable  signs  of  jealousy 
of  him,  and  also  young  Soissons.  "  My  cousins,"  quoth 
he,  "  bear  in  mind  this  day  the  Bourbon  stock  to  which 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  279 

you  belong.  With  God's  help,  I  will  show  you  that  I 
am  your  senior  and  head  of  that  House."  To  this 
Conde  replied,  "And  we  will  show  you  that  we  are 
your  worthy  juniors." 

The  battle  then  commenced,  when  not  all  the  useless 
gallantry  of  the  Catholic  nobles,  who  charged  valiantly, 
could  avail  against  the  steadiness  and  discipline  of  the 
soldiers  of  Navarre.  "  Courage,  men  !  "  cried  Henri, 
pointing  to  the  glittering  ranks  of  the  advancing  foe, 
"  every  one  of  you  shall  ride  home  on  a  trained  charger, 
and  be  served  on  silver  plate." 

He  caused  his  men  to  wait  patiently,  and  his  arquebus- 
men  to  fire  only  as  the  enemy's  line  of  battle  was  forced 
to  advance  uphill  to  the  attack — for  Henri  had  chosen  his 
ground  well.  Many  of  the  gallant  riders  fell  from  the 
musketry  fire  and  the  discharges  of  the  three  guns, 
which  were  well  handled  by  the  Baron  de  Rosny,  after- 
wards Due  de  Sully. 

Then,  when  Joyeuse  and  his  already  shaken  cavaliers 
were  at  but  a  short  distance,  the  gallant  Henri  de  Navarre 
raised  himself  in  his  stirrups,  waved  his  sword  over  his 
head,  and  gave  the  command  to  charge.  Like  a  rushing 
avalanche,  the  Huguenots  hurled  themselves  down  the  hill 
behind  the  King  of  Navarre  !  As  the  sound  of  thunder 
was  the  crash  when  they  burst  in  upon  the  line  of  gold- 
bedizened  Royal  troops  ! 

For  a  short  space  the  confusion  and  the  carnage  were 
terrible  on  the  side  of  the  Catholics,  who  went  down  by 
hundreds,  while  the  Protestants  hardly  suffered  at  all. 
Only  one  hour  after  the  commencement  of  the  engage- 
ment the  battle  was  ended.  The  remainder  of  the  army 
of  Joyeuse  was  in  headlong  flight.  But  their  leader, 
where  was  he  ?  where  his  brother  also,  and  all  their  gay 

17 


28o         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

young  nobles  who  had  ridden  out  from  the  Court  in  such 
brave  attire  ? 

The  majority  were  dead !  Joyeuse,  four  hundred 
nobles,  and  two  thousand  men  lay  lifeless  upon  the  bloody 
field  of  Coutras.  Many  prisoners  were  likewise  taken, 
and  held  for  ransom  by  their  captors.  Of  the  Huguenot 
army  merely  forty  men  had  fallen — never  had  there  been 
so  complete  a  victory  at  so  small  a  cost.  And  how  did 
the  conqueror  follow  up  this  glorious  success  ?  Alas  ! 
although  many  have  sought  to  palliate  his  conduct,  to 
account  for  it  by  the  rainy  weather,  or  the  fact  that  his 
men,  laden  with  booty,  wished  to  go  home,  there  remains 
but  the  truth. 

That  truth,  says  d'Aubigne,  was  "that  he  sacrificed 
the  fruits  of  his  victory  to  love."  Deaf  to  the  murmurs 
of  his  army,  which  was  triumphant  with  success,  deaf, 
likewise,  to  the  reproaches  of  his  cousin,  Henri  de  Conde, 
who  was  burning  to  go  ahead,  the  victor  of  Coutras 
disbanded  the  larger  part  of  his  army.  Having  collected 
all  the  enemy's  captured  standards,  Henri  de  Navarre 
compromised  all  the  results  of  the  campaign  by  riding 
off  with  them,  as  a  present  to  his  mistress  Corisande, 
at  Pau. 

This  was  the  second  gift  of  flags  he  made  her,  but, 
whereas  the  presentation  of  those  taken  at  Castel  had  no 
bearing  upon  the  course  of  the  war,  his  vainglorious 
action  in  riding  off  with  the  standards  of  Coutras  had 
serious  results,  including  that  of  costing  the  lives  of 
several  thousand  of  his  German  allies. 

While  waiting  for  the  King  of  Navarre  upon  the 
Loire,  and  cursing  him  for  not  coming  to  join  them,  the 
Germans  were  surprised  by  the  Due  de  Guise,  and  lost 
two  thousand  of  their  number.       As  for  the  Swiss,   in 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  281 

order  to  prevent  Guise  from  having  any  further  chances 
of  success,  Henri  III.,  who  had  taken  the  field,  bought 
them  off.  The  King  offered  them  four  hundred  thousand 
crowns  to  go  home.  They  took  the  money,  and  went. 
The  remains  of  the  Germans  only  reached  their  own 
frontiers  after  enduring  untold  miseries.  Their  route 
was  strewn  with  men  dead  from  starvation,  disease,  or 
wounds  inflicted  by  the  peasantry  ;  all  of  their  baggage 
and  provisions  were  lost.  The  Protestant  army  was 
nearly  destroyed. 

There  were  a  considerable  number  of  French 
Huguenots  with  the  Germans,  and  with  part  of  the 
remnants  of  this  force  the  King's  troops  came  in  contact. 
Henri  III.,  fearful  lest  Guise  should  enhance  the  glory 
of  his  Massacre  of  Auneau,  which  was  the  result  of  foul 
treachery,  offered  amnesty,  after  the  conflict,  to  both 
Germans  and  Frenchmen,  upon  the  condition  of  their 
vowing  to  take  arms  against  him  no  more.  The  Prince 
de  Conti  and  Coligny's  brave  son,  the  Comte  de  Ch^tillon, 
endeavoured  to  persuade  the  disorganised  troops  to  refuse 
this  offer  and  fight,  but  without  avail.  Thereupon,  while 
Conti  escaped  in  disguise,  Chatillon  made  good  his 
retreat  with  the  men  of  Languedoc.  After  infinite 
sufferings,  during  which  the  Protestant  Due  de  Bouillon, 
father-in-law  of  Turenne,  died,  some  of  these  reached 
Geneva  in  safety. 

After  this  success  Henri  III.  returned  in  triumph 
to  Paris,  where,  in  full  armour,  he  offered  up  thanks  for 
his  victory  at  Notre-Dame.  If  was  a  victory  which,  had 
not  Henri  de  Navarre  hurried  off"  with  his  flags  to  the 
Comtesse  de  Gramont  after  his  own  brilliant  triumph 
at  Coutras,  could  never  have  been  celebrated  by  the 
eflFeminate  King  of  France. 


282         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Nevarrc 

Sully,  who  is  always  as  ready  to  make  excuses  for 
his  master's  faults  as  Aubigne  to  condemn  them,  en- 
deavours to  explain  away  the  retreat  of  the  Bdarnais  to 
the  arms  of  his  paramour  by  throwing  part  of  the  blame 
upon  the  young  Comte  de  Soissons.  He  pretends  that 
it  was  chiefly  because  this  ardent  lover  was  impatient  to 
throw  himself  once  again  at  the  feet  of  his  fair  cousin, 
Catherine  de  Bourbon,  that  the  King  of  Navarre  re- 
turned with  him  to  Beam.  He  has,  however,  the  honesty 
to  own  that  the  passion  of  the  Bearnais  for  the  Comtesse 
de  Guiche,  "  and  his  vanity  in  wishing  to  present  to  her 
the  ensigns,  cornets,  and  other  spoils  of  the  enemy,"  had 
considerable  weight  in  causing  the  King  of  Navarre  to 
accede  to  his  cousin's  entreaties.  While  Henri,  followed 
by  an  escort  of  cavalry,  retired  with  his  twenty-two  flags 
— to  make,  as  some  say,  bed-spreads  for  his  mistress — the 
Vicomte  de  Turenne  remained  in  the  field  with  the  small 
body  of  troops  that  had  not  been  disbanded. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

Marguerite,  Queen  of  Hearts,  and  of 
Usson 

1585  and  Later 

Francois  de  Lignerac,  behind  whom  Marguerite  made 
her  hurried  exit  on  horseback  from  Agen,  was  a  brutal 
man  of  detestable  character,  and  an  ardent  follower  of 
the  League.  The  Bailli  des  Montagnes  d'Auvergne  was, 
however,  a  good  soldier  ;  and,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
fact  that,  during  the  confusion  attending  the  blowing  up 
of  the  Jacobin  convent,  of  which  Marguerite  had  made 
her  arsenal,  he  had  recaptured  one  of  the  gates  of  the 
city,  the  Queen  of  Agen  could  never  have  escaped.  In 
the  end,  it  was  owing  to  the  arrival  to  join  in  the  fighting 
of  a  lieutenant  of  Matignon,  with  Royal  troops,  that  the 
bourgeoisie  gained  a  complete  victory,  and  the  flight  became 
a  sauve  qui  peui. 

The  condition  of  Marguerite  was  indeed  miserable 
during  her  flight.  There  had  been  no  time  to  procure 
a  pillion  ;  thus  she  had  to  ride  a-straddle  for  two  days, 
with  the  result  that  all  the  skin  was  flayed  from  her 
legs.  No  horses  could  be  procured  for  half  of  her 
women  and  girls,  who  straggled  after  their  mistress  on 
foot,  "  some  without  mask,  others  without  apron,  and 
all  in  such  pitiable  condition  that  they  rather  resembled 

283 


284         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

a  parcel  of  soldiers'  camp-followers  than  the  daughters 
of  good  houses." 

For  two  days  the  rapid  flight  continued  to  the  fortress 
of  Carlat,  in  Auvergne.  This  place,  like  Agen,  belonged 
to  Marguerite,  and  its  Governor,  Robert  Gilbert, 
Seigneur  de  Marc6,  was  Lignerac's  brother.  He  came  to 
meet  the  fugitives  with  five  hundred  gentlemen,  but  long 
before  his  arrival  they  had  out-distanced  their  pursuers. 

After  her  arrival  at  Carlat,  which  is  said  to  have 
resembled  a  den  of  thieves  under  the  rule  of  the  brothers 
Lignerac,  Marguerite  was  again  treated  as  a  Sovereign, 
as  she  owned  likewise  the  adjacent  Viscounty  of  Murat. 
She  was,  however,  at  first  but  a  sorry  Queen,  being 
without  a  state  bed,  money,  or  even  a  change  of  linen. 
Her  miserable  condition  did  not,  however,  last  long,  as 
the  good  people  of  Agen,  thankful  at  having  got  rid  of 
their  mistress  and  her  Minister,  Madame  de  Duras,  sent 
on,  six  weeks  later,  her  ///  de  parade^  her  servants,  and 
property  of  all  description.  For  this  good  service  she 
had  doubtless  to  thank  the  Mar6chal  de  Matignon,  who 
had  occupied  Agen  with  Royal  troops  as  soon  as  she  had 
evacuated  the  place. 

Carlat  was  an  immense  feudal  fortress,  which  in 
bygone  days  had  served  as  the  residence  of  the  Comtes 
d'Armagnac,  and  the  Dues  de  Berry  and  Bourbon.  The 
place  was  very  strongly  fortified,  and  it  contained  a 
Governor's  palace,  named  Bridore,  in  which  the  Queen 
established  her  abode,  which  was  to  last  for  nearly  two 
years. 

Immediately  after  her  arrival  Marguerite  was  com- 
pelled to  go  to  bed  for  a  month,  owing  to  the  injury  to 
her  lower  extremities  which  had  been  caused  by  her 
hurried  ride.     The  condition  of  her  temper  will  be  better 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  285 

understood  from  the  fact  that  she  caused  her  unfortunate 
apothecary  to  be  flogged  with  stirrup-leathers,  because,  she 
said,  he  did  not  bathe  her  wounds  carefully  enough. 

She  now  renewed  her  intrigues  with  the  Due  de  Guise, 
by  whom  the  King  of  Spain  was  speedily  solicited  for  help 
in  money  for  the  Lady  of  Carlat,  in  order  to  enable  her 
to  reconquer  Agen.  Philip  II.  promised  assistance  freely, 
but  gave  none,  and  in  the  meantime  Marguerite  was 
reduced  to  considerable  straits.  She  was  all  the  more 
embarrassed  owing  to  the  fact  of  her  being  compelled,  in 
the  absence  of  her  Treasurer-General,  left  behind  at  Agen, 
to  employ  a  secretary  named  Choisinin. 

This  scamp,  who  was  a  clever  rascal,  pilfered  every- 
thing that  he  laid  his  hands  on,  and,  in  addition,  insolently 
demanded  six  thousand  crowns  for  his  services,  when  he 
was  relieved  of  them.  Not  receiving  this  sum  at  once, 
he  had  the  insolence  to  assault  one  of  the  Queen's  valets, 
for  which  offence  he  was  banished  for  a  week.  During 
this  week  Choisinin  composed  a  pasquinade,  which  was 
described  as  "  the  dirtiest  and  most  insulting  thing  ever 
seen,"  and  he  sent  it  to  Marguerite  upon  the  ironical 
pretence  that  she  was  "  fond  of  learned  and  erudite 
works." 

Being  well  caned  by  some  of  the  Queen's  indignant 
gentlemen,  this  scoundrel  threatened  to  go  off  to  the  King 
of  France  with  his  sister's  secret  correspondence  with  the 
Due  de  Guise,  of  which  he  had  retained  copies.  Choisinin 
kept  his  word,  and  did  everything  in  his  power  to  ruin 
the  Queen  of  Navarre,  with  the  result  that  Henri  III. 
cast  about  in  his  mind  for  the  means  of  putting  his  sister 
to  death. 

While  she  remained  at  Carlat  she  was  safe,  and 
although  offered  by  Catherine  de  Medicis  an  asylum  at 


286         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

her  castle  of  Ibois,  she  declined  the  offer  with  thanks, 
saying  that  she  was  *'  in  a  strong  place  of  her  own,  assisted 
by  many  persons  of  honour,  and  living  there  honoured 
and  in  all  safety."  She  continued  :  "  And  as  for  that  it 
has  pleased  you,  Madame,  to  command  M.  de  Suraine  to 
inform  me  that  it  was  not  my  place  to  wage  war,  it  was 
indeed  incumbent  upon  me,  Madame,  to  protect  myself. 
And  I  have  undertaken  nothing  else  than  to  endeavour  to 
avoid  falling  again  into  the  hands  of  those  who  would 
deprive  me  of  life  and  honour.  I  beg  you  to  believe, 
Madame,  that  I  will  spare  nothing  to  prevent  this,  but 
also  that  I  will  remain  all  my  life  without  worrying  you 
by  my  presence." 

Carlat  was  not,  however,  to  remain  for  ever  a  place  of 
surety,  and  although  the  Queen  of  Navarre  was  indeed 
honoured  by  all  the  neighbouring  nobles  for  a  time,  many 
of  these  withdrew  themselves  to  join  the  party  of  the 
King.  Likewise,  the  ill-restrained  passions  of  this  Prin- 
cess, now  aged  thirty-three,  were,  as  on  previous  occasions, 
the  cause  of  trouble  to  her.  This  trouble  resulted  in 
crime,  in  fact  in  two  deeds  of  murder. 

Not  content  with  Fran9ois  de  Lignerac,  Marguerite 
had  allowed  herself  to  be  made  love  to  by  his  brother, 
Marc^,  the  Governor  of  Carlat.  She  had  also  contracted 
an  amour  with  a  simple  gentleman  named  Aubiac,  of 
whom  she  had  made  her  equerry. 

Suddenly,  presumably  because  Marce  was  found  in  the 
way  of  her  pleasures,  the  brother  of  Lignerac  died  of 
poison.  Possibly  Lignerac  suspected  the  son  of  the 
apothecary  ;  anyway,  entering  the  Queen's  chamber  un- 
expectedly, he  found  him  standing  quite  close  to  Mar- 
guerite's bedside.  Seized  with  an  access  of  jealous  rage, 
Lignerac,  without  a  word,  drove  his  poignard  into  the 


QUEEN    CATHERINE    DE    MEDICIS 

Widow  of  Henri  II.  of  France 


287 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         289 

heart  of  the  young  man,  whose  life-blood  spurted  all  over 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  where  she  lay. 

In  order  to  escape  from  Carlat,  where  she  felt  herself 
nothing  better  than  the  prisoner  of  Lignerac,  who  indeed 
had  taken  her  jewels  from  her  in  lieu  of  money  he  claimed, 
Marguerite  had  recourse  to  the  equerry  Aubiac,  with 
whom  she  planned  her  evasion  in  order  to  render  herself 
to  her  mother's  chateau  of  Ibois. 

This  unfortunate  young  man  Aubiac,  who  was  to  die 
for  his  love,  deserves  a  few  words. 

The  second  son  of  Antoine  de  Lart  et  Galart,  Seigneur 
d'Aubiac,  he  was  a  simple  captain  when,  upon  first  per- 
ceiving Marguerite  at  Agen,  he  exclaimed  aloud,  "  Ah  ! 
the  adorable  creature  !  could  I  but  obtain  her  favours 
I  would  willingly  be  hanged  for  her  sake."  He  was 
to  be  gratified  in  every  respect,  for,  the  young  captain's 
speech  being  reported  to  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  her 
vanity  was  aroused.  She  sent  for  Aubiac,  made  him 
her  equerry,  and  further  gave  him  her  heart.  Now,  for 
the  second  time,  she  became  a  mother.  The  son  of 
Aubiac  came  into  the  world  at  Carlat,  but  the  babe  being 
transported  in  great  cold  to  the  village  of  Escoubiac, 
this  child  became  both  deaf  and  dumb. 

After  the  death  of  Marc6,  quarrels  arose  between 
Lignerac  and  Aubiac,  on  the  subject  of  the  military 
command  of  Carlat.  While  the  Divorce  Satyrique  spite- 
fully describes  the  Queen's  last  lover  as  being  red-haired 
and  ugly,  Cavrina,  the  Ambassador  of  Tuscany,  gives 
quite  a  different  report  of  his  appearance.  He  says 
that  Aubiac  was  "  young,  noble,  and  handsome,  while, 
however,  being  audacious  and  indiscreet." 

While  Lignerac  refused  the  orders  of  Henry  III.  to 
deliver  up  Carlat  and  his  Royal  mistress,  neither  would 


290         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

this  violent  man  accept  the  position  of  being  the  inferior  of 
Aubiac,  whom  he  threatened  with  "  the  strange,  annoying, 
and  evil  conduct "  of  throwing  him  over  the  ramparts. 

Eventually,  the  quarrels  between  the  two  lovers  in- 
creasing, Marguerite  fled  by  night  from  Carlat,  accom- 
panied only  by  Aubiac  and  one  woman.  At  least  so  says 
one  report,  which  also  makes  her  travel  in  an  ox-waggon 
to  a  neighbouring  gentleman's  castle.  In  whatever 
manner  she  escaped,  and  other  reports  say  she  left  openly, 
attended  by  all  her  people,  including  Lignerac's  youngest 
brother,  she  travelled  rapidly  from  her  town  of  Murat, 
and  then  from  chateau  to  chateau,  until,  in  the  middle 
of  October,  after  being  nearly  drowned  in  a  ford,  she 
reached  Catherine's  Chateau  d'Ibois. 

Here  she  arrived  completely  worn  out.  The  sole 
provisions  in  the  castle  of  Ibois  consisted  of  nuts, 
bacon,  and  beans.  Her  arrival  was  expected,  but  she 
did  not  find  the  friends  whose  assistance  she  had  counted 
upon.  On  the  other  hand,  two  nobles,  obeying  the 
instructions  of  Henry  III.,  warned  the  Marquis  de 
Canillac  of  her  approach,  and  this  Canillac  was  already, 
at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  cavalry,  beating  the  country 
for  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  and  especially  for  young 
Aubiac. 

Upon  his  speedy  arrival  at  Ibois  Marguerite  attacked 
Canillac  with  all  the  sarcasm  of  which  she  was  capable,  and 
that  she  was  eloquent  we  well  know.  After  swallowing 
her  insults,  the  Marquis,  already  captivated,  humbly 
excused  himself  for  constituting  himself  her  gaoler,  by 
saying  that  he  was  acting  by  the  King's  orders. 

"  The  brother  and  sister  will  make  up  their  quarrels," 
replied  Marguerite,  "  while  as  for  thee,  thou  wilt  find 
thyself  left  !  " 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  291 

She  had,  however,  disguised  Aubiac  by  shaving  him 
and  personally  cutting  off  all  his  hair,  and  she  had  hidden 
him  as  well.  The  unfortunate  equerry  was,  however, 
discovered  and  dragged  off  by  Canillac  to  the  house 
of  a  neighbouring  Seigneur,  while  news  of  his  arrest 
was  sent  to  the  King.  To  him,  and  to  Catherine, 
Choisinin  had  taken  the  stolen  letters  before  this,  which 
may  well  account  for  the  change  of  the  mother's  dis- 
positions towards  the  daughter  upon  her  arrival  at  Ibois. 

The  King  was  so  furious  upon  reading  the  papers 
from  Marguerite  to  Guise,  that  he  wrote  to  the  Due 
de  Villeroi,  telling  him  to  order  Canillac  to  conduct 
his  sister  a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Usson,  in  Auvergne. 
"  From  this  hour,"  Henri  III.  continued,  "  let  her  be 
deprived  of  her  estates  and  pensions ;  they  will  help 
to  reimburse  the  Marquis  for  his  expenses  in  keeping 
her.  As  for  her  women,  let  him  hunt  them  out,  sharp, 
and  give  her  some  decent  woman  as  femme  de  chambre. 
Above  all,  let  him  keep  good  guard  over  her.  The 
Queen,  my  mother,  enjoins  me  to  cause  that  Aubiac  to  be 
hanged.  See  that  it  is  done,  and  doubly  done,  in  the 
presence  of  that  miserable  woman,  in  the  courtyard  of 
the  Chateau  d'Usson.  Have  all  her  rings  sent  to  me, 
and  an  inventory  made  of  them,  too,  without  delay."  In 
a  further  letter  the  King  says  that  it  will  be  as  well  to 
give  Aubiac  some  form  of  trial  before  hanging  him. 
The  charge  against  him  is  not  known,  but  some  say 
that  it  was  not  only  that  of  being  Marguerite's  lover 
but  of  having  caused  the  death  of  Gilbert  de  Marc6 
by  poison. 

Although  an  old  soldier,  whom  the  wars  had  left  with 
only  one  eye,  Canillac  was  himself  enamoured  with  the 
charms  of  Marguerite.     He  had,  accordingly,  not  waited 


292         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

for  the  King's  detailed  instructions  to  hang  the  lover  in 
possession  of  those  charms  which  he  desired  himself. 

At  a  place  called  Aigueperse,  a  gallows  was  erected  and 
a  ditch  dug  at  its  foot,  and  to  this  gallows  Aubiac  was 
conducted.  Before  his  death,  which  he  met  most  bravely, 
Aubiac  kissed  a  blue  velvet  sleeve,  which  was  the  last 
gift  of  his  mistress,  for  whose  sake  he  seemed  content  to 
die.  This  brave  young  man  was  still  breathing  when  the 
lieutenant  of  the  Grand  Provost-Marshal  caused  his  body 
to  be  bundled  into  his  grave.  This,  we  suppose,  was  by 
way  of  conforming  to  the  King's  order  to  have  the 
hanging  "  doubly  done  "  ! 

The  castle  of  Usson,  to  which  the  Queen  of  Navarre 
was  conducted  by  Canillac,  was  an  excessively  strong 
fortress  on  the  peak  of  a  rocky  hill  overlooking  the  town 
of  the  same  name,  which  also  formed  a  part  of  the 
appanage  of  this  unfortunate  Princess.  It  was  supposed  to 
be  inaccessible,  and  had  formerly  been  used  by  Louis  XI. 
for  the  incarceration  of  those  of  his  prisoners  whom  he 
wished  to  retain  more  surely  even  than  in  the  terrible 
dungeons  of  the  Chateau  de  Loches. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  this  strong  citadel  had 
belonged  to  the  English,  who  could  never  be  ejected.  It 
was  only  as  the  result  of  being  bought  out  that  they 
eventually  consented  to  leave  it.  At  the  time  that  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  took  up  her  residence  at  Usson  in 
1587  there  were  no  less  than  four  lines  of  bastioned 
fortifications  around  the  high  central  keep,  which  formed 
the  dwelling-place  of  the  chateau. 

Marguerite  was  in  despair,  and  wrote  complaining 
bitterly  to  her  mother's  Maitre  d'hotel,  Sarlan,  of  the 
bad  treatment  she  had  received  when  she  had  accepted 
Catherine's  hospitality  at  Ibois.     She,  however,  ended  her 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  293 

letter  by  saying  that  she  had  faith  in  the  Queen-Mother, 
and  that  her  death  would  not  be  compassed  unless  it 
were  by  her  will. 

Marguerite,  however,  was  possessed  of  an  extremely 
buoyant  disposition  ;  no  misfortunes  weighed  heavily  upon 
her  for  long.  According  to  her  usual  custom,  she 
accordingly  soon  set  herself  to  work  to  make  the  best 
of  a  bad  situation.  Observing  that  her  gaoler  Canillac 
commenced  to  flash  amorous  glances  upon  her  from 
his  remaining  eye,  she  beamed  upon  him  in  return  with 
her  own  translucent  orbs.  *'  Poor  man  !  "  exclaims 
Brantome,  "  what  did  he  think  he  could  do  }  Be  able  to 
hold  prisoner  she  who  with  her  eyes  and  beautiful  face 
can  reduce  to  subjection  to  her  bonds  and  chains  all  the 
rest  of  the  world  like  a  convict  ?  " 

Soon  of  her  gaoler  Marguerite  had  made  her  prisoner. 
Although  he  was  well  paid  by  the  King  to  keep  her 
secure,  the  fair  captive  had  soon  become  her  own  mistress. 
Canillac  only  wished  to  restore  her  to  liberty,  and  at 
the  same  time  sold  himself  secretly  to  Guise  and  the 
League. 

There  was,  however,  a  Marquise  to  be  circumvented 
as  well  as  a  Marquis.  By  flattery  this  was  soon  efi^ected. 
Marguerite  gave  her  some  of  her  valuable  rings — which 
had  not  been  sent  to  the  King  according  to  his  orders. 
She  dressed  the  Marquise  up  also  in  her  own  gorgeous 
dresses,  while  remarking  cajolingly  :  "  Now  you  are 
really  beautiful.  How  they  become  you  !  It  is  evident 
that  you  were  made  for  the  Court ;  your  place  is  there." 

Very  soon  the  Marquise  de  Canillac  was  in  the  toils 
as  deeply  as  her  husband,  and  now  all  sorts  of  negotiations 
were  conducted  through  them  with  the  Due  de  Guise. 
To  him  Canillac  also  wrote,  giving  him  the  information 


294         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

that  the  Queen-Mother  and  the  King  had  formed  a  com- 
bination for  getting  rid  of  Marguerite,  and,  after  her  death, 
giving  a  new  wife  to  Henri  de  Navarre,  in  the  person  of 
their  niece,  the  daughter  of  the  Due  de  Lorraine.  Canillac 
at  the  same  time  informed  Guise  that  he  hoped  soon  to 
have  a  good  troop  at  his  disposal  with  which  he  might 
prove  of  use  in  the  Due's  service. 

There  seems  but  little  doubt  that  Marguerite's  death 
was  indeed  being  considered  at  the  Court  in  the  year 
1588,  and  that,  moreover,  the  King  of  Navarre,  to  whom 
Henri  III.  was  sending  large  subsidies  secretly  to  resist 
the  Leaguers,  knew  all  about  this  plot. 

In  1587  we,  however,  find  Henri  III.  sending  the 
Due  de  Mayenne  openly  to  attack  the  Bearnais.  While 
he  was  thus  still  openly  at  war  with  the  King,  we 
find  Henri  de  Navarre  writing  to  his  mistress,  Corisande : 
*'  I  only  wait  for  the  happiness  of  hearing  that  they 
have  strangled  the  late  Queen  of  Navarre  ;  that,  with 
the  death  of  her  mother,  would  indeed  make  me  sing 
the  canticle  of  Simeon."  Marguerite  was  not,  however, 
born  to  be  hanged ;  she  lived  in  comfort  in  Usson 
for  no  less  than  seventeen  years,  and  eventually,  after 
granting  her  husband  a  divorce,  existed  on  the  most 
friendly  terms  with  him  and  his  second  wife,  Marie  de 
M6dicis,  in  Paris.  In  the  meantime,  let  us  see  how 
this  cunning  woman  took  advantage  of  the  enamoured 
Canillac,  and  secured  her  freedom  without  his  aid. 

While  the  double-dealing  Marquis,  after  fighting  in 
her  interests  against  those  of  the  King,  his  master,  was 
absent  in  order  to  arrange  with  Guise  to  interest  Philip  II., 
the  Pope,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  on  her  behalf.  Mar- 
guerite made  a  secret  move.  She  had  no  mind  to  die, 
and  was  by  no  means  certain  that,  should  the  affairs  of 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  295 

the  League  go  wrong,  Canillac  might  not  reveal  every- 
thing to  the  King.  Accordingly  she  wrote  directly  to 
her  old  lover  at  Orleans,  and  begged  him  to  send  her 
a  body  of  troops.  Instantly  these  were  sent  by  Guise, 
and  Marguerite,  having  won  over  the  garrison  of  Usson, 
they  were  admitted  to  the  citadel  without  opposition. 
Shortly  after,  Canillac,  returning,  presented  himself  at 
the  gates,  whereupon  Marguerite  sent  him  out  the  polite 
message  of  "  not  at  home."  He  was  forced  to  remain 
outside.  The  best  of  the  joke  for  Marguerite  was,  how- 
ever, yet  to  come.  "  No  sooner  had  the  disconcerted 
Marquis  turned  his  back  than  Marguerite  stripped  the 
Marquise  of  all  her  jewels  and  finery,  and  sent  her  off, 
meanly  attired,  with  all  her  guards,  and  made  herself 
mistress  of  the  place." 

The  above  is  quoted  from  the  Divorce  Satyrique,  but 
shortly  after  this  the  same  authority  shows  us  Marguerite 
as  making  large  donations  to  the  outwitted  Canillac. 

The  deed  of  gift  to  Jean  de  Beaufort,  Marquis  de 
Canillac,  of  various  remunerative  rights  over  several 
seigneuries  in  Auvergne,  commences  in  royally  magnilo- 
quent style  :  *'  We  Marguerite,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
Queen  of  Navarre,  only  sister  of  the  King,  Duchesse 
de  Valois  et  d'fitampes,  Comtesse  d'Agenais,  Rouergue, 
Senlis  et  Marie,  Dame  de  la  Fere  and  of  the  judgeships 
of  Rieux,  Riviere,  Verdun  et  Albigeois,  etc." 

This  Royal  document,  clearly  the  act  of  one  who 
arrogated  to  herself  the  rank  and  state  of  a  ruling 
Sovereign,  was  "  given  under  our  hand  at  Usson,  Septem- 
ber 8th,  1588."  A  reigning  Sovereign  Marguerite  had 
indeed  become  once  more,  the  only  difference  being  that, 
instead  of  being  Queen  of  Agen,  she  now  was  Queen  of 
Usson.     Moreover,  while  wars  and  quarrels  surged  all 


296         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

over  the  Kingdom  around  her,  Queen  Marguerite  was 
left  alone  in  her  glory  at  Usson,  where  neither  her 
brother,  while  he  lived,  nor  her  husband,  after  the  King's 
death,  ventured  to  attack  her  in  her  impregnable  fortress. 
There  she  resided  and  ruled  year  after  year,  almost  for- 
gotten by  the  world,  the  only  events  of  importance  at 
this  little  Court  being  the  occasional  change  of  the  lovers 
of  its  Queen. 

Her  amours  were,  alas !  that  it  should  have  to 
recorded,  many  indeed,  and  her  lovers  selected  from 
all  ranks,  even  from  those  of  the  cooks  and  choir- 
boys, to  be  promoted  to  positions  of  trust  about  her 
person.  The  worthy  Canon  Matthieu  says  that  "  she 
was  indeed  a  Cytherean  for  her  amours,"  while,  as 
Mongez  remarks  :  "If  one  should  listen  to  the  Divorce 
SatyriquCy  the  detail  of  the  debauches  of  which  the  fort 
of  Usson  was  the  theatre  would  indeed  be  infinite." 

That  Marguerite,  however,  contrived  to  keep  on  good 
terms  with  the  Church  during  the  many  years  of  her  rule 
of  Usson  is  evident  from  the  panegyric  of  the  P^re 
Hilarion  de  Coste,  in  his  Eloges  des  Dames  Illustres. 
According  to  this  worthy  priest,  "  her  dwelling  was  a 
Thabor  for  devotion,  a  Lebanon  for  retreat,  an  Olympia 
for  exercises,  a  Caucasus  for  affliction."  Another  priest 
compares  the  rock  of  Usson  to  Noah's  ark,  but  he  unfor- 
tunately forgets  to  add  that,  if  the  animals  were  mated, 
the  males  were  all  compelled  to  pair  with  the  same 
female.  A  good  jest  was  made  by  M.  de  Lalanne.  In 
an  eulogistic  address  to  his  Queen  by  a  functionary  of 
Usson,  he  remarked  that  "  the  rock  was  the  wonder  and 
marvel  of  Auvergne,  where  it  appears  that  Paradise  on 
earth  cannot  be  elsewhere."  A  propos  of  this,  Lalanne 
very  pithily  suggests   that   the   Paradise   of  Marguerite 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  297 

must  have  been  uncommonly  like  that  of  the  prophet 
Mahomed. 

Paradise  or  no,  upon  the  peak  of  Usson  Marguerite 
was  content  to  dwell.  She  had  tried  the  outside  world 
and  found  that  liberty  was  nowhere,  but  all  commotion 
and  turmoil.  At  Usson  she  enjoyed  repose,  religion,  and, 
above  all,  the  delights  of  love. 


\^ 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

The  Love-letters  to  Corisande 

1580— 1589 

Nothing  is  more  calculated  to  show  the  many-sided 
nature  of  Henri  de  Navarre  than  a  perusal  of  his  letters 
to  La  belle  Corisande,  of  which  a  large  number  are 
in  existence.  Henri  was  a  born  letter- writer.  Many- 
doubts  have  been  cast  upon  his  poetical  and  musical 
capabilities,  but  those  who  are  inclined  to  deny  that 
he  was  the  author  of  the  song  "  Charmante  Gabrielle  " 
might  well  change  their  opinion  after  reading  some  of 
his  letters.  These  contain  a  freshness,  an  appreciation 
of  nature,  a  trustful  repose  in  Providence,  and  often 
display  a  poetical  spirit.  At  the  same  time,  they  are 
written  with  a  verve^  a  go,  a  jovial  good  nature  which 
makes  one  see  the  man  himself,  sympathise  with  him, 
feel  with  him,  be  carried  away  by  his  innate  courage, 
which  no  ill  luck  could  crush,  even  as  was  the  Comtesse 
de  Gramont  herself  convinced  by  them,  and  carried  away 
during  many  years  of  their  liaison. 

It  must  be  remembered  that,  in  writing  to  his  belle 
Corisande,  Henri  felt  that  it  was  necessary  to  conceal 
nothing  of  his  aims  or  aspirations  ;  he  loved  her,  appre- 
ciated   her    powers    of    discrimination,    and,    moreover, 

whatever  she  might  feel  about  him,  was  absolutely  de- 

298 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         299 

void  of  any  jealous  suspicions  where  she  was  concerned. 
How  different,  indeed,  was  the  absolute  security  and 
faith  placed  by  *'  le  Bearnais  "  in  Diane  d'Andouins  in 
this  respect  from  any  feelings  he  subsequently  experienced 
towards  the  easy,  good-natured  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  or 
that  petulant  little  spitfire,  Henriette  d'Entragues. 

With  this  feeling  of  security  in  his  mind,  when 
writing  to  Corisande  Henri  let  himself  go  as  if  address- 
ing his  second  self,  and  thus  unconsciously  revealed 
much  that  was  noble,  much  that  was  great  in  a  nature 
which  would  otherwise  have  appeared  to  consist  merely 
of  a  bantering  frivolity  covering,  as  a  cloak,  an  innate 
licentiousness.  The  letters  thus  convey  to  us  the  fact 
that,  although  naturally  sensual,  from  his  strongly  de- 
veloped virile  nature,  which  also  prompted  him  to  noble 
deeds,  Henri  de  Navarre  did  not  possess  a  really  licen- 
tious mind.  He  worshipped  woman,  it  is  true.  He 
could  not  help  it ;  the  attraction  of  sex,  of  beauty,  was 
so  strongly  developed  in  him  that  the  charm  of  the 
petticoat  drew  him  as  a  spell.  But,  at  the  same  time, 
he  was  willing  to  see  the  better  side  of  womanhood  ; 
while  acknowledging  its  frailties,  to  forgive  them,  and 
realise  the  beauties  which  they  could  not  destroy  in  the 
feminine  soul ;  thus  he  did  not  revel  in  licentiousness, 
but  simply  obeyed  the  call  of  nature. 

Nor  was  this  loving  nature  of  the  B6arnais  confined 
to  womanhood  alone — no,  this  same  affectionate  dis- 
position was  but  an  example  of  that  essence  of  humanity 
which  formed  one  of  the  principal  attributes  of  this  complex 
character.  It  was  but  another  string  of  the  same  harp 
which  sounded  the  first  pasan  of  kindness  to  inferiors,  the 
song  of  mercy  to  the  poor  peasant,  who  until  his  time  was 
merely  looked  upon  as  the  fit  subject  of  vile  oppression. 


300         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

To  return  to  the  letters,  which,  fortunately  for  us, 
reveal  so  much  of  the  better  nature  of  this  man  Henri 
de  Navarre,  this  man  who  has  rightly  come  down  to 
posterity  as  "  Henri  le  Grand."  How  prettily  he  writes  ! 
"  I  arrived  last  evening  at  Marans,  whither  I  had  gone 
to  arrange  about  its  defence.  Ah  !  how  I  longed  for 
you.  It  is  the  place  the  most  suited  to  your  disposition 
that  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  an  isle  surrounded  by 
umbrageous  marshes,  where  every  few  hundred  paces 
one  finds  canals  by  which  to  bring  in  wood  in  boats. 
The  water  clear,  running  slowly,  the  canals  of  every 
width.  Among  these  deserts  are  a  thousand  gardens,  to 
which  one  can  only  go  in  a  bark.  The  island  is  two 
miles  in  circumference,  and  past  the  foot  of  the  castle 
flows  a  river  through  the  centre  of  the  little  town. 
Hardly  a  house  but  its  doorway  is  entered  by  its  little 
boat." 

Further  on,  the  writer  describes  the  country  around, 
with  its  scenes  of  nature  and  of  cultivation,  its  birds, 
its  fish,  its  wheat  ;  for  nothing  escapes  the  eye  of  this 
accurate  observer.  "  There  are  endless  wind-mills  and 
isolated  farms,  all  kinds  of  birds  that  sing  ;  all  sorts 
of  sea-birds  also.  I  am  sending  you  some  of  their 
feathers.  Of  fish  the  quantity  is  immense."  Here 
comes  in  the  practical  nature  of  the  man  who  so  often 
found  it  hard  to  obtain  a  meal ;  for  he  continues  : 
'*  The  size  and  the  price  !  A  large  carp  only  three 
sols,  and  five  for  a  pike  ;  it  is  a  place  of  great  traffic, 
and  all  by  water.  One  can  reside  there  happily  in 
peace  and  safely  in  time  of  war.  One  can  delight  one- 
self there  with  the  object  of  one's  love  and  sigh  for  its 
absence.     Ah  !  how  good  it  is  to  sing  there  !  " 

This  last  spontaneous  exclamation  reveals  the  joyous 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  301 

disposition  of  the  writer,  still  a  young  man  full  of  vigour. 
How  naturally  he  displays  all  of  his  thoughts  and  feelings 
to  this  dear  friend  of  his  heart,  from  whom  nothing  that 
he  feels  need  be  concealed  !  In  another  letter  he  shows 
his  mistress  how  well  he  realises  the  dangers  by  which 
he  is  hourly  surrounded.  Already  upon  two  occasions 
attempts  had  been  made  to  assassinate  him,  and  now  he 
has  learned  the  death  of  his  cousin,  Henri  de  Cond6, 
poisoned  by  his  second  wife,  Charlotte  de  la  Tremouille, 
and  her  lover.  Henri  de  Navarre  feels  himself  left  alone. 
"  I  am  now  the  only  target  aimed  at  by  the  perfidies 
of  the  Mass.  They  have  poisoned  him,  the  traitors  1 
If  it  should  happen  that  God  should  remain  the  master, 
then  will  I,  by  His  grace,  become  the  executioner.  I  see 
infinite  difficulties  ahead  in  my  road.  Pray  God  boldly 
for  me.  Should  I  escape,  it  can  only  be  He  who  can 
have  guarded  me.  Until  the  tomb,  to  which  I  am  per- 
chance far  nearer  than  I  am  aware,  I  shall  remain  your 
faithful  slave.  My  soul !  I  am  well  enough  in  body, 
but  greatly  afflicted  in  mind.  Love  me,  and  make  it 
evident  to  me  ;  it  will  be  my  great  consolation." 

Upon  another  occasion,  after  the  utter  discomfiture  of 
the  Germans  on  the  Loire  by  Henri  III.  and  Henri  de 
Guise,  we  find  him  torn  by  the  conflicting  counsels  of 
those  around  him.  "  Ah  !  "  he  cries,  "  the  violent  proofs 
by  which  they  sound  my  brain.  I  can  hardly  help  soon 
becoming  either  a  fool  or  else  a  clever  man."  It  was 
as  a  clever  man  that  Henri  came  out  in  the  end,  and 
apparently  he  realised  it  himself,  since  we  find  him  writing 
that  he  finds  his  own  head  the  best  at  his  council-table, 
and  that  he  makes  scarcely  any  mistakes  in  his  decisions. 

His  faith  in  the  protection  of  God  is  profound.  He 
writes  to  Corisande  :  *'  Should  they  unearth   *  a  killer ' 


302         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

for  me,  should  they  put  people  on  my  track  to  slay  me, 
my  principal  assurance  is  in  God,  who  will  keep  me  by 
His  grace." 

It  is  from  Henri's  pen  again  that  the  Comtesse  de 
Gramont  learns  all  the  details  of  the  death  of  Henri  de 
Conde,  and  in  reading  his  account  it  is  impossible  to  help 
wondering  how  a  man  with  a  deadly  dose  of  poison 
seething  within  him  had  the  courage  or  resolution  to  tilt 
at  the  ring  or  to  play  a  game  of  chess  !  They  were,  how- 
ever, a  tough  race,  those  early  Bourbons,  as  witnessed  by 
the  especial  toughness  of,  the  rebel  of  the  family,  the  great 
Constable,  Charles,  Due  de  Bourbon,  who  died  while 
mounting  a  scaling-ladder  when  storming  the  walls  of 
Rome,  during  the  childhood  of  the  mother  of  Henri  de 
Navarre.  The  letter  to  his  mistress  from  this  Prince 
describing  the  death-scene  of  Cond6  is  dated  March  loth, 
1588.     In  it  he  says: 

*'  This  poor  Prince,  having  tilted  at  the  ring  on 
Thursday,  supped,  feeling  all  right.  At  midnight  he 
was  seized  by  vomiting,  which  lasted  till  dawn  ;  all  Friday 
he  stayed  in  bed.  He  got  up  on  Saturday,  dined  up, 
then  played  a  game  of  chess.  He  rose  from  his  chair, 
walked  about  the  room,  and  chatted  with  one  and  another. 
Suddenly  he  exclaimed  :  *  Give  me  my  chair  !  I  feel  a 
dreadful  weakness.'  No  sooner  had  he  seated  himself 
than  he  lost  the  power  of  speech,  and  directly  afterwards 
gave  up  his  soul.  The  marks  of  poison  came  out 
at  once." 

While  reading  this  description  of  his  cousin's  death 
from  the  pen  of  the  B^arnais  it  is  impossible  to  avoid 
wondering  how  the  guilty  wife  felt  who  was  the  author  of 
her  husband's  tortures,  while  sitting,  watching  and  waiting 
for  him  to  die  I 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3^3 

Strange,  indeed,  was  it  that  Henri  IV.  should  sub- 
sequently have  rehabilitated  this  wicked  woman,  have, 
moreover,  recognised  her  son,  who  was  known  to  have 
been  the  result  of  her  adultery. 

Henri  was,  however,  a  mass  of  contradictions,  and 
in  this  instance,  once  more,  we  can  but  see  a  striking 
proof  of  his  humanity,  which  always  prompted  him  rather 
to  pardon  than  to  punish. 

One  pretty  little  letter,  which  he  indited  to  his  sweet- 
heart, reveals  him  to  us  quite  in  the  style  of  the  Knight- 
errant.  He  is  going  to  fight,  and  asks  her  for  a  favour, 
while  saying  that  he  will  fire  a  shot  or  so  in  her  honour. 
We  wonder  if,  when  actually  delivering  his  death-dealing 
blows  with  sword  or  pistol,  this  preux  chevalier  paufeed  to 
dwell  upon  the  lady  of  his  thoughts,  while  cutting  short 
the  career  of  some  unfortunate  opponent,  who  perchance 
loved  not  less  ardently,  but  more  faithfully  than  himself. 

"  Make  up  your  mind,"  he  begs,  "  my  beautiful 
mistress,  to  make  me  a  favour,  for  one  of  yours  alone 
will  I  wear  during  this  war.  I  have  only  two  hundred 
horsemen  against  their  three  hundred,  but  I  will  see  if 
they  care  to  fight ;  if  they  do,  I  will  let  fly  a  pistol-shot 
in  your  honour." 

Later  he  learns  that  the  beautiful  Isle  of  Marans, 
whence  he  had  sent  the  sea-gull's  plumes,  has  fallen  into 
the  enemy's  hands. 

"  The  enemies  had  taken  the  Isle  of  Marans  before 
my  arrival,  so  that  I  was  unable  to  help  the  chateau,  the 
troops  that  I  was  bringing  there  from  Gascony  not  having 
arrived.  Please  God,  you  will  soon  hear  of  me  that 
I  have  retaken  it." 

It  is  an  expression  often  found  in  his  letters  to 
Corisande,  this  "  you  will  soon  hear  of  me  "  1     It  may 


304         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

have  seemed  vainglorious,  but  it  must  be  excused  in 
the  case  of  this  bold  leader  of  men,  of  whose  gallant 
deeds  his  attached  lover  indeed  often  learned  before  she 
received  the  letters  announcing  that  he  proposed  to 
undertake  them.  Despite  the  pride  with  which  her 
bosom  thrilled,  we  can  understand  the  cruel  anxieties 
to  which  this  loving  woman's  heart  must  have  been 
constantly  exposed.  At  times  it  was  not  from  the  death- 
dealing  blow  of  the  enemy  but  from  fell  disease  that 
she  ran  the  risk  of  losing  this  most  Royal  lover  and 
brave  soldier.  Such,  for  instance,  was  the  case  when  she 
received  his  letter  written  in  January  1589,  although 
by  that  time  the  unhappy  Corisande  had  ceased  entirely 
to  believe  in  his  fidelity.  Describing  his  malady,  Henri 
de  Navarre  writes  from  his  bed  :  "  I  can  scarcely  write. 
Certes  !  my  heart,  I  have  seen  the  skies  open,  but  I  have 
not  been  a  good  enough  man  to  enter  there.  God  still 
has  work  for  me  to  do.  In  twice  twenty-four  hours  I 
was  reduced  to  being  wrapped  up  in  the  shroud.  You 
would  have  felt  sorry  for  me.  Had  but  my  crisis  lasted 
two  hours  more,  the  worms  would  have  had  a  fine  time 
with  me.  I  stop,  for  I  feel  too  ill  to  go  on.  Bon  jour^ 
my  soul." 

Throughout  the  constant  warfare  in  which  he  is 
engaged  we  find  Corisande  uppermost  in  her  lover's 
thoughts.  He  is  always  sending  her  some  present.  He 
sees  something  which  he  thinks  will  please  her,  and  it  is 
sent.  Some  of  these  gifts  are  unusual.  Such,  for 
instance,  are  two  young  wild  boars  which  he  has  tamed, 
or  two  fawns  which  will  follow  him  anywhere — *'  even  to 
the  Mass  !  "  He  notices  among  his  horses  one  which 
he  thinks  would  make  a  good  match  with  one  belonging  to 
the  Comtesse  de  Gramont,  and  it  is  sent  to  her  forthwith. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3^5 

One  of  his  most  cheery,  soldierly  letters  carries  the 
reader  with  it.  We  see  him  in  front  of  the  fight,  we 
wish  that  we  could  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  stand 
by  the  side  of  Henri  de  Navarre  in  that  merry,  rattling 
contest,  "the  most  furious  skirmish  that  I  have  seen." 
He  describes  it  on  March  ist,  1588,  with  all  the  light- 
heartedness  of  the  Gascon  which  he  is. 

"  Yesterday,  the  Mar^chal  and  the  Grand-Prior, 
knowing  that  I  had  dismissed  all  my  troops,  came  to 
look  us  up  and  offer  battle.  It  was  at  the  top  of  the 
vines,  on  the  side  of  Agen.  There  were  five  hundred 
horsemen  of  them  and  nearly  three  thousand  foot.  After 
they  had  taken  five  hours  to  restore  their  order,  which 
was  pretty  confused,  they  started,  determined  to  fling  us 
into  the  ditches  of  the  town,  which  they  really  ought  to 
have  done,  as  the  whole  of  their  infantry  came  into  the 
fight.  We  received  them  at  the  wall  of  my  vineyard, 
which  is  the  most  advanced,  and  we  retired  at  a  foot's- 
pace,  always  skirmishing,  until  five  hundred  paces  from 
the  town,  where  was  our  main  body,  which  might  be  of 
about  three  hundred  arquebus-men.  Thence  we  took 
them  right  back  to  the  very  spot  where  they  had  attacked 
us.  It  was  the  most  furious  skirmish  which  I  have 
ever  seen." 

There  is  plenty  of  elegant  love-making  in  these 
letters  ;  expressions  such  as  "  I  kiss  thy  hands,  my  heart, 
a  million  times,"  or  '*  Your  slave  adores  you  violently," 
are  frequently  to  be  met  with.  Henri  tells  his  chhre  amie 
also  little  things  about  his  wife,  of  whom  he  speaks 
scornfully,  especially  upon  one  occasion  when  Marguerite 
is  evidently  contemplating  going  into  the  wine-business. 
"  A  man  has  come  to  me  from  the  lady  of  the  camels,  to 
demand  from  me  a  passport  to  let  pass  five  hundred  tuns 


3o6         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

of  wine,  without  paying  duty — *  for  her  mouth,'  for  this 
is  inscribed  on  a  patent.  That  is  to  declare  herself  a 
female  drunkard  on  parchment ! 

"  For  fear  lest  she  should  fall  from  so  great  a  height 
as  the  back  of  her  beast,  I  have  refused  her.     This  is  to 
become  a  water-spout  to  excess.    The  Queen  of  Tarvasset 
.  could  never  do  so  much." 

This  letter  was  written  at  the  end  of  1585,  a  couple 
of  months  after  Marguerite's  arrival  at  Carlat,  and  by 
calling  his  wife  "  the  lady  of  the  camels  "  the  Bearnais  is 
evidently  making  a  sneering  allusion  to  the  grotesque 
circumstances  attending  her  hegira  from  Agen.  We 
have  already  mentioned  one  occasion  upon  which  Henri 
expresses  the  wish  to  hear  that  his  wife  ha4  been 
strangled  ;  he  makes  another  reference  to  the  possibility 
of  the  death  of  Marguerite.  This  is  after,  at  the  King's 
request,  this  Huguenot  leader  goes  at  the  beginning 
of  1589  with  his  forces  to  assist  Henri  III.  against  the 
League.  He  then  informs  Corisande  :  "  The  King  has 
spoken  to  me  on  the  subject  of  the  lady  of  Auvergne.  I 
think  that  he  is  going  to  make  her  take  a  bad  jump." 
This  proposed  jump  for  his  sister  was  presumably  to  be 
from  the  gallows,  but  the  fanatic  young  monk  Jacques 
Clement  had  jumped  Henri  III.  himself  out  of  the 
world  before  three  months  had  elapsed  from  the  date  of 
this  letter. 

In  this  same  year  of  1589,  which  in  the  autumn 
saw  Henri  de  Navarre's  accession  to  the  throne  of  France, 
Corisande,  already  jealous  for  some  time  past,  commences 
to  sulk,  and  also  upbraid  her  lover  both  when  present 
and  absent.  The  King  of  Navarre  writes  stiffly  in  return 
— he  asks  if  she  thinks  it  wise  to  show  such  coldness,  to 
use  her  own  judgment  about  the  matter.     Henri,  how- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  307 

ever,  who  is  most  certainly  indulging  in  other  amours 
elsewhere,  does  not  scruple  still  to  vow  that  "  his  fidelity 
is  astonishingly  white  and  unspotted."  When  he  adds, 
*'  there  never  was  anything  like  it "  !  we  can  well  imagine 
his  mistress  snorting  with  disdain,  judging  by  her  own 
remarks  written  upon  these  later  letters.  Notwithstand- 
ing that  her  lover  ends  them  in  the  following  style  :  "  I 
have  ever  remained  fixed  in  the  love  and  service  that 
I  owe  to  you.  God  is  my  witness  of  this !  "  Corisande 
remains  unconvinced.  She  makes  ironical  comments 
upon  the  correspondence  of  1589,  and  even  alters  the 
wording  in  her  own  handwriting.  When,  for  instance, 
the  B^arnais  writes,  "  I  will  preserve  to  you  fidelity,"  this 
disillusioned  woman  alters  the  last  word  to  '*  iwfidelity," 
while  adding,  "  I  believe  it." 

When  matters  had  gone  as  far  as  this  it  was,  alas !  a 
case  of  good-bye  to  love,  although,  from  the  effect  of 
custom,  we  still  find  Henri  writing  extravagantly,  "  Adieu, 
my  heart ;  I  kiss  thee  a  hundred  million  times." 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

Henri   at    Arques   and    Ivry 

1589 

The  years  1588  and  1589  were  fateful  ones  for  the  three 
Henris.  In  May  of  the  former  Henri  de  Guise  in- 
solently entered  Paris  against  his  Sovereign's  direct  order, 
the  famous  Barricades  were  thrown  up  in  the  streets,  the 
Swiss  Guards  fired  upon  by  the  people,  Guise  was  made 
the  idol  of  the  mob,  and  Henri  III.  escaped  from  the 
Louvre  in  headlong  flight  to  the  Chateau  de  Blois.  In 
December  the  Due  de  Guise  insolently  bearded  the  King 
once  more,  this  time  at  Blois,  when  Henri  III.,  who  had 
already  vowed  that  he  would  kill  his  enemy,  now  carried 
out  his  threat.  The  Due  de  Guise  was  assassinated  by 
a  group  of  the  King's  mignons  at  the  very  door  of  the 
King's  chamber  in  the  early  morning  of  December  23rd. 
As  we  have  described  this  assassination  at  length  else- 
where {Sidelights  on  the  Court  of  France)^  we  need  not 
give  details  of  the  tragedy  here. 

Henri  III.  came  out  from  his  cabinet,  kicked  the  still 
writhing  body  of  his  enemy  with  glee,  and  a  day  or  two 
later  caused  Louis,  Cardinal  de  Guise,  the  Due's  brother, 
to  be  murdered  also.  The  King  now  delightedly  in- 
formed his  mother  that,  the  "  King  of  Paris  "  being  dead, 

308 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         309 

he  was  once  more  King  of  France.  A  week  later  died 
Catherine  de  M6dicis,  at  Blois,  where  she  succumbed  to 
the  shock  of,  while  very  ill,  being  wrongfully  accused 
by  the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  of  being  the  author  of  the 
double  murder  of  the  Guises.  When  this  wicked  but 
able  old  woman  died,  on  January  5th,  1589,  she  was 
seventy  years  of  age. 

Henri  III.  was  now  free  from  the  domination  of  two 
powerful  personages,  but  he  possessed  two  violent  enemies 
in  the  shape  of  Guise's  sister,  the  handsome  young 
Duchesse  de  Montpensier,  a  widow,  and  his  brother,  the 
Due  de  Mayenne.  These  two  now  headed  the  League, 
in  his  fear  of  which  the  King  appealed  to  his  brother-in- 
law,  the  King  of  Navarre,  for  assistance,  although  he  was 
still  at  war  with  him. 

Although  the  B6arnais  was  advised  not  to  trust  the 
King,  he  did  so.  After  sending  some  of  his  troops  under 
Chatillon,  the  son  of  the  murdered  Coligny,  to  help 
Henri  III.  against  the  Leaguers,  he  fearlessly  went  and 
threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  liege  lord  at  Plessis-les- 
Tours  in  May  1589.  The  two  Kings  cordially  embraced 
one  another,  and  in  the  following  month  the  Huguenot 
forces,  joined  to  the  Royal  troops  in  amicable  union, 
took  various  cities  from  the  Leaguers,  and  then  marched 
on  Paris,  which  they  besieged  and  prepared  to  assault. 
Henri  III.  had  established  his  headquarters  at  Saint- 
Cloud,  Henri  de  Navarre  his  at  Meudon,  and  there 
seemed  every  probability  of  the  capital,  which  was  all 
for  the  Guise  faction,  falling  into  their  hands  in  a  few 
days'  time. 

The  Duchesse  de  Montpensier,  however,  utterly 
upset  their  plans,  by  instigating  a  young  monk,  Jacques 
Clement    by    name,    to    assassinate    the    King.       Upon    f 


3IO         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

August  I  St,  1589,  Clement  succeeded  in  driving  a  long 
knife  into  the  belly  of  Henri  III.,  when  Henri,  with- 
drawing it  from  the  wound,  struck  the  assassin  with  it 
in  the  face.  The  monk  was  instantly  killed  by  a 
courtier,  but  the  King  did  not  die  at  once,  and 
behaved  with  more  fortitude  and  decision  during  his 
last  hours  than  ever  before  in  his  life.  He  sent  for 
Henri  de  Navarre,  recognised  his  brother-in-law  as  his 
successor,  and  made  all  his  courtiers  swear  allegiance  to 
him. 

Upon  the  following  morning  Henri  III.  died,  when 
the  King  of  Navarre  having  become,  almost  nominally, 
Henri  IV.  of  France,  found  himself  in  a  most  precarious 
position.  For  not  only  was  he  at  war  with  the  League, 
aided  by  Spanish  troops,  but  the  greater  number  of  the 
courtiers  and  other  followers  of  the  late  King,  vowing 
that  they  would  not  serve  a  Huguenot,  refused  their 
allegiance  to  Henri  de  Navarre.  Henri  was  thus  left 
with  but  a  small  army  of  his  own,  and  without  money 
wherewith  to  pay  the  Swiss  allies  who  had  previously 
joined  him  and  the  late  King. 

The  cunning  ability  of  the  Bearnais,  however,  rose 
equal  to  the  crisis.  Although  he  was  obliged  to  with- 
draw from  the  siege  of  Paris,  he  declared  that  he  was 
willing  to  allow  himself  to  be  instructed  in  the  tenets 
of  the  Catholic  religion  ;  he  promised  that  no  changes 
should  be  made  in  the  posts  of  the  nobles  about  the 
Court,  and  notably,  by  unlimited  promises,  he  contrived 
to  gain  over  the  greedy  but  able  General,  the  Marechal 
de  Biron,  to  his  side. 

While,  owing  to  Biron's  adhesion,  many  other 
Catholic  nobles  signed  a  pact  of  allegiance  to  Henri 
on    August   4th,    a   large    number   of    the    Huguenots, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  311 

disgusted  at  the  idea  of  his  receiving  Catholic  instruc- 
tion, left  the  banner  of  their  old  leader  and  went  off 
to  their  homes. 

Depositing  the  body  of  his  brother-in-law  in  an  abbey 
at  Compiegne,  Henri  now  marched  off  to  the  coast  of 
Normandy,  to  endeavour  to  obtain  both  troops  and 
money  from  Queen  Elizabeth.  Fortunately  for  him, 
the  Governors  of  both  Dieppe  and  Caen  declared  them- 
selves in  his  favour,  but  soon,  while  with  his  back  to  the 
sea,  he  found  himself  confronted  by  the  Due  de  Mayenne 
with  thirty  thousand  Leaguers,  a  number  of  Spaniards, 
and  a  force  of  Germans. 

Henri  now  showed  himself  great,  both  as  a  man  and 
a  soldier.  Although  pressed  to  retire  across  the  sea  to 
England,  he  absolutely  refused  to  do  anything  of  the 
kind,  but  carefully  disposed  his  small  army  in  an  excellent 
position  at  Arques,  four  miles  from  Dieppe,  and  there 
waited  for  his  foes,  who  were  confidently  expected  to 
bring  him  back  a  prisoner  to  Paris. 

While  the  over-confident  Parisians  were  actually 
hiring  windows  from  which  to  view  the  ignominious 
entry  of  Henri  in  the  train  of  the  conqueror  Mayenne, 
the  said  Henri  was  administering,  at  Arques,  a  most 
thorough  thrashing  to  the  allied  army  of  the  League, 
which  doubled  his  own  in  number. 

During  this  battle  of  Arques  the  danger  of  Henri  de 
Navarre  was  heightened  owing  to  the  treachery  of  the 
German  foot-soldiers  of  Mayenne,  who,  at  a  time  when 
they  were  getting  the  worst  of  it,  declared  that  they  were 
Protestants,  and  cried  out  that  they  wished  to  join  the 
King's  side.  These  Germans  were  therefore  assisted  over 
the  parapets  of  the  earth-works  into  the  lines  of  the 
Huguenots ;    but   when    they  had   been  inside    a    short 


312         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

time,  seeing  the  success  of  a  movement  made  by  the 
Due  de  Mayenne,  they  traitorously  attacked  those  who 
had  spared  them.  Henri  was  one  of  those  who  was 
thrown  to  the  ground  by  a  German  spearman,  but  he  was 
rescued  when  the  treacherous  wretch  had  his  spear  at 
his  throat. 

The  victory  of  Arques,  September  23rd,  1589,  was 
all  the  more  complete  owing  to  the  great  ability  of  Biron 
and  the  excessive  valour  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  whose 
white  plumes  were  frequently  seen  waving  in  the  midst 
of  the  foes,  upon  whom  he  made  repeated  furious  charges. 
While  the  crestfallen  Mayenne  retired,  to  await  for  further 
Spanish  help  to  arrive  from  the  Duke  of  Parma  in  the 
Netherlands,  Queen  Elizabeth  sent  over  six  thousand 
English  troops  to  join  the  B^arnais.  Two  other  detach- 
ments of  his  own  troops,  from  whom  he  had  separated 
upon  raising  the  siege  of  Paris,  also  arrived  to  his  assist- 
ance. Henri,  with  twenty  thousand  men,  now  far  from 
being  led  a  captive  into  Paris,  made  a  rapid  march,  and 
attacked  and  carried  all  the  faubourgs  of  that  city  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Seine.  About  a  thousand  of  the  Parisians 
were  slaughtered  by  the  Huguenots,  out  of  revengeful 
recollection  of  the  great  Saint  Bartholomew  massacre,  and 
the  King  slept  upon  a  bed  of  straw  in  a  house  which 
belonged  to  one  of  the  courtiers  of  Henri  III.  On  the 
following  day,  being  unable  to  storm  the  walls  or  to  force 
the  gates  of  the  city,  Henri  IV.  withdrew  his  army,  while 
endeavouring  to  force  Mayenne,  who  was  approaching,  to 
a  conflict,  but  in  vain. 

In  March  of  the  following  year  the  B6arnais  was 
more  successful  ;  and  on  the  night  of  the  13th  of  that 
month  he  determined,  as  Du  Plessis-Mornay  told  him 
after  the  battle  was  won,  "  to  commit  the  bravest  folly 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  313 

that  ever  was,  in  staking  the  fate  of  the  Kingdom  on  one 
cast  of  the  dice." 

He  had  but  a  small  army  with  him  that  night — only- 
ten  thousand  two  hundred  men,  all  told,  encamped  on 
the  plain  near  Ivry,  or  in  the  adjacent  villages  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Eure,  which  is  in  the  north  of  France, 
near  Dreux  and  Mantes.  However,  the  men  were  well 
sheltered  from  the  cold,  well  fed,  and  supplied  with  wine 
likewise.  Many  of  these  men  were  German  and  Swiss 
mercenaries,  and  the  latter  Du  Plessis-Mornay  had  con- 
trived to  pay,  an  unusual  event,  which  put  them  in  good 
heart  for  the  coming  battle. 

Upon  the  following  morning  Henri  de  Navarre  found 
himself  once  more  opposed  by  Mayenne,  with  a  powerful 
army  of  allies  :  French,  Flemish,  Spaniards,  and  Walloons, 
these  latter  being  under  the  gallant  Comte  d'Egmont,  of 
the  brave  old  fighting  stock  of  the  Dues  de  Gueldre.  In 
cavalry  alone  the  Leaguers  were  to  the  King's  forces  as 
three  to  one. 

Henri  had,  however,  a  high  heart,  and,  with  more 
than  his  usual  courage,  he  had  surmounted  both  his 
own  helmet  and  his  horse's  head  with  plumes  of  immense 
size.  These,  of  white  peacock  feathers,  must,  he  knew, 
surely  make  him  the  object  of  every  one  of  the  enemy's 
lances,  swords,  or  arquebuses,  so  ridiculously  conspicuous 
they  were. 

The  King,  however,  intended  them  to  be  merely  the 
beacon  to  lead  his  men  on  to  victory.  *'  Comrades,"  he 
exclaimed,  addressing  them,  "  God  is  on  our  side  !  There 
are  His  enemies — here  is  your  King.  Should  the 
standards  fall,  rally  to  my  white  plume — it  will  lead 
you  to  victory  and  honour." 

Having  addressed  his  troops  in  this  spirited  manner, 

19 


314         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Henri  proceeded  to  win  his  greatest  victory.     All  know 
what  happened  at  Ivry,  from  Macaulay's  lines  : 

And  in  they  burst,  and  on  they  rushed, 

While,  like  a  guiding  star, 
Amid  the  thickest  carnage  blazed 

The  helmet  of  Navarre. 

The  whole  of  Mayenne's  Swiss  mercenaries  eventually 
saved  their  lives  by  surrendering  when  they  found  the 
King's  artillery  just  about  to  play  upon  their  ranks. 
These  men  fought  merely  for  pay,  and  one  side  was  the 
same  to  them  as  another  to  fight  bravely  for  when  paid. 
To  pay  them  was,  however,  a  little  formality  which  had 
been  neglected  by  Mayenne,  accordingly  the  Swiss  sur- 
rendered en  bloc  in  his  moment  of  greatest  need. 

The  Germans  would  have  liked  to  have  saved  their 
lives  in  a  similar  manner,  but  the  King's  troops  at  Ivry 
remembered  their  treachery  at  Arques.  Henri  himself, 
usually  so  humane,  likewise  gave  orders  to  spare  the 
flying  Frenchmen  but  to  kill  the  Germans.  Killed  the 
poor  wretches  were,  accordingly,  most  mercilessly,  without 
quarter.  Killed  also  was  the  brave  Comte  d'Egmont, 
while  his  surviving  Walloons  made  off  as  fast  as  they 
could  run.  The  Due  de  Mayenne  and  the  Due  de 
Nemours,  both  forgetting  that  they  were  Princes  with 
Royal  blood  in  their  veins,  turned  their  horses'  heads 
and  fled  for  their  lives  from  the  field.  Many  of  the 
flying  French  infantry  were  drowned  in  the  river  Eurc, 
which  was  in  flood.  This  river  did  not,  however,  stay 
the  pursuit  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  who  crossed  the  swollen 
stream  even  although  Mayenne  had  caused  the  only 
bridge  to  be  broken  down.  Although  his  arm  was  all 
swollen    and    bruised    with    blows   given    and   received, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3^5 

although  his  helmet  and  his  horse's  head  had  been  shorn 
of  some  of  their  immense  white  plumes,  Henri  was  fore- 
most in  the  pursuit  as  in  the  fight.  He  hunted  Mayenne 
into  Mantes,  after  killing  five  thousand  of  his  men  ;  but 
although  Henri  had  captured  both  the  black  lilies  of 
Mayenne  and  the  banner  bearing  the  red  cornet  of  the 
House  of  Egmont,  he  did  not,  this  time,  ride  off  with 
them  to  Corisande. 

The  days  for  bearing  the  trophies  of  his  victories  to 
the  Comtesse  de  Gramont  had,  alas  !  gone  by  for  ever — 
no  longer  now  did  the  gallant  soldier  write,  as  formerly  : 
"  If  the  enemy  does  not  press  us  after  this  meeting,  I  will 
try  to  steal  a  month.  I  am  well,  having  nothing  in  the 
heart  but  a  violent  desire  to  see  you." 

Those  old  days  were,  indeed,  gone  for  ever  ;  for  some 
time  past  the  faithless  warrior  had  been  paying  ardent 
court  to  a  lady  known  as  La  dame  de  Roche-Guyon, 
one  who  would  never  consent  to  become  his  mistress, 
although  he  duly  presented  her  with  one  of  those  written 
promises  of  marriage  of  which  he  was  ever  so  lavish.  It 
was  to  her  feet  that  he  now  carried  any  odd  flags  that 
he  might  have  to  spare  for  decorative  purposes  ;  but, 
finding  that  she  still  persisted  in  remaining  virtuous, 
Henri  de  Navarre  ceased  to  trouble  himself  about  this 
lady  as  soon  as  he  had  once  seen,  and  become  enamoured 
of,  a  new  flame — one  well-known  to  the  world  as  "  Char- 
mante  Gabrielle." 

Before,  however,  we  proceed  to  relate  the  story  of 
Henri  de  Navarre  and  Gabrielle  d'Estrdes  we  must  refer 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  justly  off^ended  Comtesse  de 
Gramont  endeavoured  to  pay  out  her  faithless  lover  for 
his  neglect,  by  thwarting  his  ambitions  where  his  charming 
sister  Catherine  de  Bourbon  was  concerned.     It  must  be 


3i6         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

owned  that  the  Bearnais  well  merited  that  the  designs 
of  the  woman  who  had  loved  him  faithfully  for  ten  years, 
and  who  had  borne  him  one  child,  if  not  two  children, 
should  have  succeeded.  She  was  ever  a  good  friend  to 
him,  as  we  have  shown,  and  all  our  sympathies  go  out  in 
consequence  to  La  belle  Corisande. 

But  when,  for  him,  age  had  indeed  withered  and 
custom  staled  her  infinite  variety,  how  do  we  find  the 
King  of  Navarre,  now  become  King  of  France,  behaving 
to  the  woman  whose  self-sacrifice  had  so  greatly  helped 
to  sustain  him  in  his  darker  hours  ?  He  simply  attempts 
to  make  use  of  her  still  unchanged  love  as  a  tool  to 
forward  his  political  schemes.  If  Henri  was  great,  he 
also  was  certainly  very  small ! 


CHAPTER  XXX 
How  Henri  treated  his  Sister 

1590  and  Later 

The  real  names  of  the  lady  who  has  come  down  to 
history  as  the  lovely  Chatelaine  de  la  Roche-Guyon,  were 
Antoinette  de  Pons,  Marquise  de  Guercheville.  Her 
chateau  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mantes,  which 
town  Henri  occupied  with  his  forces  after  the  battle  of 
Ivry.  The  rains  were  very  heavy  that  March,  the  roads, 
such  as  they  were,  impassable  for  troops,  the  Swiss  and 
the  Germans  murmuring  for  pay  and  disinclined  to  move. 
Henri  IV.,  therefore,  after  having  decorated  the  castle 
walls  of  La  Roche-Guyon  with  the  captured  banners  of 
Ivry,  was,  perforce,  compelled  to  remain  for  a  time  in 
the  neighbourhood.  He  occupied  the  time  which  could 
not  be  devoted  to  military  movements  in  sighing  like  a 
furnace  at  the  feet  of  the  obdurate  Antoinette,  whom  wc 
honour  for  her  resistance. 

His  love-making  only  being  found  acceptable  up  to 
a  certain  point,  Henri  de  Navarre  had  ample  time  to 
devote  to  his  correspondence  and  political  combinations. 
With  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  afterwards  James  I.  of 
England,  he  was  on  friendly  terms.  When  he  discovered 
that  the  young  son  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was  willing 
to  cement  this  friendship  by  a  matrimonial  alliance,  the 

317 


31 8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

B6arnais  showed  the  greatest  hard-heartedness  towards 
his  sister,  who  acted  as  his  Regent  in  Navarre  during  his 
absences. 

No  longer  seeking  to  associate  the  devoted  Corisande 
with  the  inmost  feelings  of  his  heart,  he  now  sought  solely 
to  employ  his  mistress  for  the  furtherance  of  the  designs  of 
his  policy.  He,  accordingly,  wrote  to  the  Comtesse  de 
Gramont  to  request  her  to  gradually  detach  his  sister 
from  her  love  for  his  cousin,  the  dashing  Comte  de 
Soissons.  Henri  told  Corisande  that  the  King  of  Scots 
had  offered  to  come  in  person,  and  at  his  own  expense,  to 
serve  under  him  at  the  head  of  six  thousand  men,  and 
added  that  nothing  could  prevent  him  from  succeeding 
Elizabeth  on  the  throne  of  England.  Accordingly,  as 
the  result  of  the  ten  years'  attachment  shown  to  him  by 
Diane  d'Andouins,  for  sole  reward  he  entrusts  her  with 
the  post  of  go-between  for  a  new  match,  while  requesting 
her  to  play  a  shabby  trick  upon  the  Princess  Catherine 
de  Navarre,  her  intimate  friend. 

In  order  to  break  down  the  sturdy  resistance  which 
he  expected  on  the  part  of  his  faithful  sister,  who  had 
already  refused  many  offers,  Henri  puts  the  words  that 
he  considers  necessary  into  the  mouth  of  his  deserted 
mistress. 

"  Prepare  my  sister,  in  advance,  to  look  well  upon 
him  ;  point  out  to  her  the  position  which  we  are  in,  and 
the  greatness  of  this  Prince,  and  his  virtue.  I  will  not 
write  to  her  myself.  Only  talk  to  her  as  if  you  are 
discussing  the  fact  that  it  is  time  for  her  to  be  married, 
and  that  there  is  no  other  parii  that  she  can  hope  for  but 
this  one." 

Henri  finished  up  this  casuistical  letter  by  sending  an 
even  greater  number  of  kisses  than  usual,  but  Corisande 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  319 

was  not  in  the  least  deceived,  for  she  well  knew  his  love 
to  be  as  dead  as  a  doornail 

Although,  throughout  that  year  of  1590,  Henri  con- 
tinued, as  of  old,  to  write  well-worded  accounts  of  his 
military  operations,  Corisande  had  already  learned  of  the 
commencement  of  the  reign  of  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es. 

Being  justly  irritated,  the  Comtesse  endeavoured  to 
satisfy  her  vengeance  by  encouraging  Catherine,  in  the 
teeth  of  her  brother,  to  carry  out  her  marriage  with 
Charles  de  Bourbon. 

Nor  was  the  Comte  de  Soissons  behindhand.  While 
the  King  was  engaged  in  grave  military  operations,  he 
left  the  army  on  the  pretext  of  going  to  Nogent,  instead 
of  which  he  travelled  as  swiftly  as  possible  to  B6arn. 
In  the  presence  of  Corisande  he  and  the  Princess  signed 
their  reciprocal  vows,  after  which  the  marriage  would 
certainly  have  taken  place  immediately  save  for  the  in- 
flexible resistance  of  a  Protestant  pastor,  by  name  of 
Palma  Cayet.  The  Comte  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he 
would  not  tie  the  knot,  whereupon  the  minister  replied 
that  he  preferred  to  die  at  the  hands  of  a  Prince  for 
having  done  his  duty  than  at  those  of  the  hangman 
for  betraying  his  master.  "  Thereupon,"  says  Lestoille, 
"the  Seigneur  de  Pangeas,  husband  of  Henri's  former 
mistress  '  la  petite  Tignonville,'  who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Sovereign  Council  of  B6arn,  having  received  the  King's 
orders,  seized  the  castle.  He  compelled  the  Comte  to 
leave  the  country,  and  put  guards  about  the  Princess  for 
fear  lest  she  should  be  carried  off." 

It  is  Sully  who  informs  us  that,  being  able  to  wreak 
no  other  vengeance  upon  Pangeas,  the  Comte  flung  him 
from  top  to  bottom  of  a  staircase,  when  he  found  him 
§\ibsequently  in  the  King's  residence  at  Pontqise.. 


320         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Sully  now  was  given  some  dirty  work  to  do  by  his 
master,  and  by  a  series  of  lies,  of  which  he  himself  was 
ashamed,  eventually  recovered  the  written  promise  of 
marriage  from  the  Princess  Catherine.  Upon  other 
occasions  we  find  Sully,  of  his  own  accord,  and  against 
his  master's  wishes,  seizing  promises  of  marriage  given 
by  Henri  to  Gabrielle  or  to  Henriette  d'Entragues  ;  but 
upon  this  occasion  the  faithful  Minister,  owning  his 
disgust,  says  :  ''  I  was  seized  with  a  fit  of  trembling 
when  the  King  gave  me  such  an  order." 

None  the  less,  he  obeyed  it,  and,  by  enacting  the 
shameful  part  of  a  false  friend,  of  a  jolly  good  fellow 
working  all  in  her  interest,  he  completely  deceived  the 
poor  Princess  Catherine.  He  played  his  part  so  well 
that  he  even  deceived  the  cunning  Abb6  Perron,  one 
of  the  smartest  and  wittiest  men  of  the  day,  who 
became  a  Cardinal.  Completely  likewise  did  the  Due 
de  Sully  draw  the  hood  over  the  eyes  of  Corisande, 
the  sympathetic  friend  of  the  Princess. 

He  contrived,  in  the  end,  to  get  the  paper  into  his 
possession  by  saying  that,  for  the  Princess  to  hold  it 
over  her  brother's  head  was  an  insult  to  the  King. 
Further,  that  the  King  would  most  undoubtedly  be 
touched  by  the  confidence  shown  by  his  sister  in  himself 
if  she  should  hand  it  over,  and  would  certainly  give 
his  consent  to  her  marriage  in  consequence  with  the 
man  whom  she  loved  so  dearly. 

Having,  by  this  abominable  variation  of  the  present- 
day  "  confidence  trick,"  defrauded  Catherine  in  one 
respect.  Sully,  by  a  further  abuse  of  confidence,  deceived 
the  poor  young  Princess  yet  further.  Inspired  by  the 
belief  in  his  utmost  fidelity,  Catherine  handed  over  to 
Sully  another   paper,  one   by   which   the   lovers   vowed 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  321 

that,  if  they  were  not  permitted  to  marry  one  another, 
they  would  die  single. 

While  the  crafty  Minister  handed  the  first-named 
paper  to  Henri  de  Navarre,  who  tore  it  up  gleefully, 
he  kept  the  second  in  his  own  pocket,  in  case  it  might 
be  useful  at  any  time,  but  said  nothing  about  it. 

Being  thus  deprived  of  her  arms  of  defence,  Catherine's 
resistance  was  eventually  broken  down,  and  some  years 
later,  weary  of  the  long  struggle,  she  allowed  herself  to 
be  dragged,  an  unwilling  bride,  to  the  altar,  with  Henri, 
Due  de  Bar,  the  son  of  the  Princess  Claude  de  France, 
and  who  became  reigning  Due  de  Lorraine. 

Previous  to  this  forced  marriage  Catherine  wrote  a 
long  letter  to  her  brother,  in  which  she  complained 
bitterly  of  the  martyrdom  which  was  being  inflicted  upon 
her,  and  asking  his  permission  to  end  her  days  in  a 
convent. 

Henri,  in  return,  merely  wrote  to  M.  de  la  Force, 
complaining  bitterly  of  his  sister's  ingratitude.  He  says 
that,  in  spite  of  her  apparent  humility,  she  causes  him 
to  see  through  her,  to  learn  her  evil  nature  :  "  For  she 
complains  of  me  the  most  cruelly  possible  with  appar- 
ently soft  words,  but  really  quite  the  contrary,  as  you 
will  see  when  I  show  you  the  letter.  .  .  .  Ingratitudes 
will  be  punished  by  Heaven,  and  it  is  thither  that  I 
remit  her.  Whatever  she  may  do  or  say,  I  will  not 
cease  to  be  her  father,  her  brother,  and  her  King,  and 
to  do  my  duty.  Let  her  therefore  do  hers,  which 
every  one  unfortunately  does  not  do  nowadays  ;  but  God 
will  grant  me  the  grace  to  perform  mine."  (September 
13th,  1595.) 

Long  previous  to  this  ridiculously  unjust  eiFusion 
concerning   the   amiable    sister   whose   heart   he   almost 


322         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

contrived  to  break,  the  Bearnais  had  written  the  last 
of  his  long  series  of  love-letters  to  Corisande.  Stiff  and 
rough  was  the  epistle  of  March  1591,  and  not  a  trace 
was  left  of  the  old  sentiment  for  this  once  dear  woman, 
upon  whose  bosom  he  had  so  often  slept,  and  whose 
infant  child  by  him  had  died  but  shortly  before. 

"  Madame,"  it  runs,  *'  I  have  sent  to  cause  you  to  be 
spoken  to  on  the  subject  of  that  which,  to  my  regret,  has 
taken  place  between  my  sister  and  myself.  I  trust  that 
you  have  been  capable  of  believing  that  which  I  say,  to 
the  effect  that  all  your  speech  has  only  tended  to  blame 
me  and  foment  my  sister  in  that  which  she  should  not 
do.  I  should  not  have  believed  it  of  you,  to  whom 
I  will  only  say  this  word  :  that  any  persons  who  should 
seek  to  set  my  sister  and  myself  at  variance  will  never  be 
forgiven  by  me." 

Such,  then,  was  the  last  page  in  a  chapter  in  which 
the  good  qualities  of  the  Bearnais  appear  as  in  no  way 
remarkable.  Le  Rot  s' amuse  !  was  the  motto  of  Henri  de 
Navarre,  and  if  he  could  not  amuse  himself  in  one 
direction  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  him  from  looking 
next  door. 

The  Journal  of  Lestoille  says  that  the  faithful 
Corisande  had  now  lost  her  looks  ;  she  had  become  "  fat, 
fleshy,  and  red  in  the  face."  Sully,  commenting  upon 
this  change  in  the  appearance  of  the  Comtesse  de 
Gramont,  declares  that  "  she  herself  became  ashamed  that 
people  should  say  that  the  King  had  ever  loved  her  so 
much."  Here  we  think  that  Sully  is  going  too  far.  It 
was  never  for  Corisande  to  be  ashamed  of  anything, 
unless  it  were  of  having  trusted  Henri  de  Navarre  too 
much,  and  of  more  than  half  ruining  herself  for  the  sak^ 
of  a  most  ungrateful  Prince, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  323 

In  the  year  1 597  Henri  IV.  appears  to  have  recollected 
that  his  old  sweetheart  was  still  living  in  Beam  ;  he  even 
deigned  to  send  a  reply  to  a  letter  from  her  relation,  the 
Comte  de  Parabere,  who  had  been  the  first  confidant  of 
their  loves.  In  this  letter,  in  most  flattering  terms  the 
King  speaks  of  the  Comtesse  de  Gramont. 

Corisande  outlived  Henri  de  Navarre  by  at  least  ten 
years;  she  died  either  in  the  year  1620  or  in  1624. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

The  King  meets  '^  Gharmante  Gabrielle  " 

1590 

There  is  probably  no  mistress  of  any  of  the  Kings  of 
France  whose  character,  appearance,  and  attributes  have 
excited  more  discussion,  called  forth  more  argument,  than 
Gabrielle  d'Estr^es,  who  became  invested  with  the  old 
Bourbon  title  of  Duchesse  de  Beaufort,  after  having  first 
been  created  Marquise  de  Monceaux.  The  "  Charmante 
Gabrielle  "  of  the  song  supposed  to  have  been  written  by 
Henri  IV.  was  in  this  matter  of  being  endowed  with 
a  title,  and  a  grand  one,  quite  en  regie ^  as  the  female 
favourites  of  most  of  the  Bourbon  Kings  had  titles 
bestowed  upon  them,  after,  if  they  were  unmarried,  being 
usually  first  supplied  with  a  merely  nominal  husband, 
who  was  pensioned  off  at  once. 

This  remark,  of  course,  does  not  refer  to  the  three 
nuns  whom  Henri  IV.  took  as  his  mistresses  during  the 
protracted  siege  of  Paris,  when  he  made  use,  in  turn,  of 
various  convents  outside  the  walls  as  convenient  places 
to  reside  in  while  directing  the  military  operations.  Not 
being  well  able  to  provide  these  chaste  sisters  with 
husbands  and  titles,  Henri  made  them  all  Abbesses  of 
good  fat  Abbeys.  They  were  Catherine  de  Verdun, 
Marie  de  BeauviUiers,  and  Ang^lique  d'Estrees,  one  of 

324 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         325 

the  sisters  of  Gabrielle,  and  were  respectively  rewarded, 
for  the  levity  with  which  they  treated  their  vows,  with 
the  Abbeys  of  Vernon,  Montmartre,  and  Maubuisson. 

The  most  active  period  of  Henri's  military  career 
lasted  perhaps  from  the  year  1589,  when  he  ascended 
the  throne  of  France,  until  July  30th,  1593,  when  he 
renounced  the  Protestant  religion.  In  the  following 
March  Henri  de  Navarre  at  length  entered  Paris,  by  the 
simple  process  of  buying  over  the  Marechal  de  Brissac, 
the  Governor,  who  held  the  city  for  the  League. 

On  several  occasions  Henri  had  previously  almost 
reduced  the  capital  by  famine,  thirty  thousand  people 
having  died  of  starvation,  but  the  bold  march  from  the 
Netherlands  of  the  Spaniards,  under  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
had  prevented  the  King  from  reducing  the  city,  either 
by  starvation  or  assault. 

Even  after  Henri  had  peacefully  entered  Paris,  and, 
by  becoming  a  Catholic,  taken  away  the  cause  of  the 
opposition  of  those  who  had  refused  their  allegiance  to  a 
Protestant  King,  his  troubles  were  by  no  means  over  ;  for 
the  League  was  but  half  suppressed. 

As  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  the  ally  of  the  League,  was, 
like  various  Governors  of  provinces  and  cities,  still  in 
arms  against  the  King,  this  latter  was  still  constantly 
compelled  to  take  the  field  until  another  four  years  had 
elapsed. 

Then,  at  length,  he  was  able  to  devote  himself  to 
that  improvement  of  the  condition  of  his  subjects  which 
has  made  the  name  of  "  le  Bearnais  "  for  ever  blessed. 
It  was  only  in  the  year  1598  that  Henri  IV.  at  last  felt 
himself  to  be  so  much  the  King  as  to  be  able  to  do 
something  for  the  Huguenots,  and,  braving  all  opposition, 
to  give  them  that  Edict  of  Nantes  which  brought  to  those 


326         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

of  "  the  religion  "  some  measure  of  repose,  after  so  many 
years  of  oppression  and  warfare. 

During  all  these  years,  while  continuing  to  be  a 
General,  Henri  never  ceased  to  be  a  lover,  and  the  name 
which  is  associated  with  his,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others,  from  1590  until  1599,  when  she  died,  is  that 
of  la  Charmante  Gabrielle.  Indeed,  any  historian  who 
should  attempt  the  task  of  writing  an  account  of  the  reign 
of  Henri  IV.  containing  no  mention  of  Gabrielle  d'Estrces 
could  not  be  considered  as  having  performed  his  task 
faithfully.  That  there  was  one  such  is,  however,  evident 
from  the  following  amusing  extract  from  the  preface  of 
one  of  M.  de  Lescure's  works  : 

"  There  is  a  man,  very  estimable  for  that  matter, 
whom  I  will  not  name,  to  punish  him  for  having  been 
able  to  write  a  History  of  Henri  IV.  in  four  volumes 
without,  I  believe,  once  pronouncing'the  name  of  Gabrielle 
d'Estrces  !  This  exaggerated  modesty  has  borne  its  fruit. 
He  was  crowned  by  the  Acaddmie,  probably  not  without 
smiling  himself." 

The  above  unnamed  writer  was,  however,  wise  in  his 
generation,  since,  by  preserving  silence,  he  was  likewise 
relieved  from  the  fear  of  falling  into  a  controversy  which 
has,  where  the  Duchesse  de  Beaufort  is  concerned,  proved 
the  bane  of  so  many  French  authors. 

Without  going  deeply  ourselves  into  this  matter,  we 
may  say  that  Gabrielle  appears  to  have  been  a  perfectly 
healthy  and  very  handsome  young  woman  ;  neither 
blessed  with  too  many  brains  nor  conspicuous  for  the 
want  of  them.  Her  hair  was  light,  her  eyes  were  blue  ; 
while  by  no  means  free  from  intrigues,  she  was  clever 
enough  never  to  be  actually  found  out.  She  was  not 
given,   like  Corisande,  to  thoughts  of  "  getting  even " 


GABRIELLE    d'ESTREES,    DUCHESSE    DE    BEAUFORT 


327 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         329 

with  her  Royal  lover,  nor,  like  Henriette  d'Entragues,  to 
sulky  fits,  spitefulness,  and  revengeful  projects  aiming  at 
the  King's  life.  Always  light  as  a  bird,  she  was  ready  to 
cheer  Henri  in  his  dreary  hours  of  disappointment ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  after  she  had  gone  to  live  openly  with 
the  King,  never  required  cheering  herself.  She  never, 
until  the  time  that  Sully  opposed  her  marriage,  suffered 
from  low  spirits,  but  always,  on  the  contrary,  retained  the 
same  amiable  contentment  and  good  humour.  She, 
moreover,  possessed  the  art  of  dissipating  her  lover's  fits 
of  ill  humour. 

That  a  woman  of  this  disposition  would  make  a 
charming  companion  for  a  King,  or  any  other  gentleman 
of  less  exalted  rank,  can  be  easily  conceived.  We  will 
now  proceed  to  mention,  first,  by  what  means  Gabrielle 
became  the  King's  companion,  and  then  the  circumstances 
in  connection  with  her  bringing  up  before  Henri  de 
Navarre  had  ever  heard  of  her  existence. 

Her  father's  name  was  Antoine  d'Estrees  and  that  of 
her  mother  Fran9oise  Babou  de  la  Bourdaisi^re.  She  was 
the  fifth  daughter  of  her  parents  and  born  at  their 
Chateau  de  Coeuvres,  in  Picardy,  in  the  year  1571. 

After  various  youthful  adventures,  to  be  reported 
presently,  this  young  lady  had  been,  in  the  year  1590, 
secretly  hiding  in  her  father's  castle  her  lover,  the  young 
Due  de  Bellegarde.  M.  le  Grand,  as  he  was  termed, 
being  Grand  Equerry  to  the  King,  after  being  concealed 
for  a  couple  of  days  at  Cceuvres,  returned  to  join  his 
master,  Henri  IV.,  at  Compiegne.  To  him,  with  all  the 
incautiousness  of  youth,  Bellegarde  descanted  upon  the 
charms  of  his  mistress  with  such  unrestrained  enthusiasm 
that  the  King  became  all  on  fire  with  the  contagion  of 
his   subject's  passion.     Already  in   love,  Henri   insisted 


f 


33^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

upon  being  taken,  upon  the  first  opportunity,  to  see  the 
young  beauty,  and  thus  be  able  to  judge  of  her  charms 
in  person.  Circumstances  of  the  war,  however,  compelled 
Henri  to  go  elsewhere,  notably  to  Senlis,  where  he 
employed  his  hours  of  leisure  with  the  nun,  Marie  de 
Beauvilliers,  who  became  Abbesse  de  Montmartre. 

Eventually,  upon  the  return  of  the  King  and  Belle- 
garde  to  Compiegne,  when  the  latter  demanded  permission 
to  go  and  see  Gabrielle,  Henri  insisted  upon  accom- 
panying him.  According  to  the  disdained  coquette, 
Mademoiselle  de  Guise,  who  became  Princesse  de  Conti, 
in  her  spiteful  work,  Les  Amours  du  Grand  Ale andre^  "  then 
it  was  that  the  poor  Bellegarde  became  all  at  once  the 
author  of  his  own  misfortune,  since  he  lost  by  this  inter- 
view the  liberty  to  live  with  his  mistress  in  the  happiness 
of  his  fortune.  So  true  is  it  that  we  have  more  to  guard 
ourselves  from  ourselves  than  from  our  enemies !  " 

What  took  place  was  this.  The  gallant  B^arnais, 
during  his  first  meeting  with  the  lovely  Mademoiselle 
d'Estrees,  had,  so  he  imagined,  but  little  difficulty  in 
persuading  her  that  it  would  suit  her  book  better  to 
become  his  mistress  than  to  remain  on  intimate  terms 
with  either  the  Due  de  Bellegarde  or  the  Due  de 
Longueville,  who  were  constantly  flying  at  each  other's 
throats  on  her  account.  Henri  then  formally  conveyed 
to  both  of  these  great  nobles  the  intimation  that,  in 
future,  the  only  friend  of  the  other  sex  who  would  be 
permitted  to  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  would  be  himself. 

Longueville  took  the  matter  reasonably  and  retired 
gracefully,  but  not  so  Bellegarde,  who  was  beloved  by 
Gabrielle,  and  who  joined  her  tears  to  his.  She  had  no 
intention  to  keep  her  promises  to  the  King  to  entirely 
give   up  M.  le  Grand,  and,  accordingly,  made   a   bold 


and  of  Marg^icritc  dc  Valois  33 1 

effort  to  assert  her  independence.  "As  women  are 
more  violent  than  men  in  their  passions.  Mademoiselle 
d'Estr^es  was  far  from  behaving  as  moderately  as  Belle- 
garde.  She  even  lost  her  temper,  and  told  the  King, 
with  extreme  heat,  that  she  had  no  idea  of  being  con- 
trolled in  her  inclinations  ;  that  violence  would  only  bring 
about  distrust  and  her  hatred,  and  especially  so  if  she 
were  prevented  from  taking,  as  a  husband,  a  man  of  whom 
her  parents  approved.  Her  sorrow  even  went  so  far 
that  she  left  Mantes  without  saying  good-bye  to  the 
King,  and  returned  to  Picardy." 

Henri  de  Navarre,  who  was  terribly  in  earnest  about 
this  young  lady,  was  struck  as  by  a  thunderbolt  at  her 
violent  self-assertion  and  consequent  departure.  Always 
stimulated  by  opposition,  he  determined,  at  any  cost,  to 
bring  to  reason  the  fair  enchantress  by  whom  he  had 
been  bewitched. 

From  Mantes,  where  he  was,  to  Cceuvres  was  a 
distance  of  over  twenty  miles,  and  the  way  led  through 
forests  beset  by  parties  of  the  enemy.  Could  he  but 
succeed  in  traversing  this  dangerous  country,  and  in  ob- 
taining an  interview  with  the  disdainful  Gabrielle,  the 
King  imagined  that  she  would  be  moved  to  admiration 
at  his  exploit  and  to  compassion  for  his  pain. 

Taking  with  him  but  five  followers  who  were, 
without  any  hope  of  personal  gain,  compelled  to  share 
their  Monarch's  amorous  quest,  Henri  started  off  on  his 
perilous  journey.  He  arrived  safely  at  a  spot  distant 
nine  miles  from  the  Chateau  de  Cceuvres.  Here,  dis- 
guising himself  in  the  ragged  garb  of  a  peasant,  and 
carrying  a  bundle  of  straw  on  his  head,  he  started  to 
walk.  By  his  disguise  he  contrived  to  pass  unobserved 
various   parties   belonging   to   the  League,  but  it   must 

20 


332         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

have  been    but  a  weary  King  who  eventually  staggered 
under  his  burden  into  the  castle  courtyard. 

He  had  managed  to  send  warning  of  his  coming  on 
the  previous  night,  and  anticipated  a  triumphant  reception, 
vainly  imagining  that  his  foolish  conduct  would  appear 
sublime  in  the  eyes  of  the  woman  whom  he  hoped  to 
captivate.  Great  indeed  was  his  disillusion  !  He  found 
Gabrielle  with  her  sister  Juliette,  afterwards  Duchesse  de 
Villars,  on  a  balcony.  She  received  the  King  with  the 
greatest  frigidity,  and  left  the  Royal  peasant,  after  telling 
him  that  he  was  so  ugly  in  his  ridiculous  disguise  that 
she  could  not  even  look  at  him  !  Juliette,  left  alone  with 
the  King,  made  all  the  excuses  in  her  power  for  her  sister, 
who,  however,  did  not  return.  Henri  had,  therefore, 
nothing  left  to  do  but  once  more  to  hazard  his  crown 
and  his  life  by  getting  back  to  Mantes  in  the  same 
manner  that  he  had  left  it. 

Upon  his  return  he  had  to  listen  to  severe  reproaches 
from  both  Du  Plessis-Mornay  and  Sully  on  the  subject 
of  his  folly.  These  the  disappointed  Henri  took  in 
good  part,  for  he  cared  not  what  was  said  provided 
that  he  could  but  regain  the  presence  of  his  charmer. 

Nevertheless  the  King's  advisers  gave  him  so  clearly 
to  understand  that,  for  the  sake  of  the  army  of  which 
he  was  the  head,  as  for  the  sake  of  the  Kingdom,  he 
could  play  no  more  of  these  tricks,  that  he  determined 
to  resort  to  others,  less  foolish  but  more  unworthy. 

Making  use  of  his  authority  as  King,  he  now  com- 
manded the  Marquis  d'Estr^es  to  come  to  Mantes,  with 
all  his  family.  As  an  excuse,  he  gave  him  a  seat  at 
his  Council-table.  Now,  although  Antoine  d'Estr^es  was 
forced  to  obey  the  Royal  command,  the  King  profited 
but  little  himself.      Constantly  compelled   to   be  off  at 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  333 

the  head  of  his  troops,  in  one  direction  or  another, 
Bellegarde  and  Longueville,  left  behind  at  Mantes,  were 
those  who  reaped  all  the  pleasure  that  was  to  be  gained 
by  the  presence  of  Gabrielle  in  that  city. 

When  the  King  returned  from  his  expeditions  these 
rivals  of  one  another  had  to  efface  themselves  in  the 
presence  of  Henri  IV.,  while  Bellegarde  merely  dissimu- 
lated his  affection,  which  continued  to  be  returned. 
Longueville,  finding  the  game  he  was  playing  a  dangerous 
one  by  which  he  might  lose  his  head,  eventually  with- 
drew altogether  from  the  partie.  He  obtained  his 
letters  back  from  Mademoiselle  d'Estr^es,  and  pretended 
to  return  all  of  hers,  while  dishonourably  retaining  some, 
with  a  view  to  holding  the  whip  hand  over  her  on  some 
future  occasion. 

By  some  the  accidental  death  of  the  Due  de  Longue- 
ville a  few  years  later,  by  a  musket-ball  when  a  salute 
was  being  fired  to  celebrate  his  entry  of  Dourlens,  was 
attributed  to  the  revenge  of  Gabrielle  for  his  act  of 
meanness  in  this  matter.  But  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  reason  whatever,  other  than  the  inclination  to  speak  ill 
of  the  King's  fair  favourite,  for  coupling  the  name  of 
Gabrielle  with  a  crime  so  improbable  and  so   useless. 

At  length  the  father  of  Gabrielle,  who,  the  girl's 
absolutely  impossible  mother  having  left  him  with  a  lover, 
remained  her  sole  protector,  became  tired  of  being  twitted 
with  being  the  too-complaisant  parent  of  an  immoral 
daughter.  The  Marquis  therefore  determined  that  she 
should  be  provided  with  a  husband,  in  the  shape  of 
a  humpbacked  and  elderly  widower,  named  Nicolas 
d'Amerval,  Sieur  de  Liancourt,  a  man  with  a  family 
of  fourteen.  Gabrielle  moaned  and  groaned,  wept  and 
sobbed  in  vain,  for  the  King  had  laughingly  but  decidedly 


334         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

agreed  with  the  father  that  a  protector  must  be  provided 
for  his  daughter's  honour.  It  was,  however,  promised  to 
Gabrielle  by  the  King  that  he  would  carry  her  off  from 
M.  de  Liancourt  on  the  night  of  her  marriage,  where- 
upon the  unwilling  bride  ceased  her  lamentations.  These, 
for  that  matter,  were  made  considerable  sport  of  by 
the  poets  of  the  day,  who  did  not  consider  that  the  young 
lady  had  any  cause  for  such  excessive  protestation,  having 
long  years  since  lost  any  shadow  of  innocence  she  might 
have  possessed. 

When  eventually  the  marriage  took  place,  Henri 
was  unfortunately  prevented  by  business  elsewhere  from 
redeeming  his  promise  to  the  bride,  a  fact  which  tended 
still  further  to  the  amusement  of  the  Court  wits.  Notably 
did  that  clever  poet,  the  Abbe  du  Perron,  celebrate  the 
sorrows  of  Gabrielle  in  verse,  which,  in  itself  excellent, 
was,  however,  of  a  questionable  nature.  In  February 
1 59 1  the  King,  however,  ordered  M.  de  Liancourt,  who 
was  most  unwilling,  to  consent  to  a  decree  of  divorce, 
and  the  abhorred  husband  was  sent  about  his  business. 
To  us  nowadays,  taking  this  fact  in  view,  the  whole  affair 
of  this  marriage  appears  to  have  been  nothing  but  an 
act  of  folly  from  beginning  to  end.  Far  from  helping 
in  any  way  to  shield  Gabrielle 's  good  name,  it  only 
served  to  cover  her  with  a  ridicule  which  fell  equally 
upon  the  shoulders  of  Henri  IV. 

The  only  person  who  can  possibly  have  benefited 
in  any  way  by  these  ridiculous  nuptials  was  Gabrielle's 
father,  Antoine  d'Estrees,  since,  from  the  time  of  their 
celebration,  he  was  able  to  wash  his  hands  of  his  daughter 
altogether,  and  was  put  to  no  further  expense  for  her 
maintenance. 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

Gabrielle  and  the   Real  Henri  IV 

1590 — 1592 

While  the  father  of  the  new  favourite  himself  forcibly 
described  his  Castle  of  Coeuvrcs  as  "  a  rabbit-warren 
of  female  improprieties,"  Tallemant  des  Reaux  frankly 
informs  the  world  that  *'  they  called  those  six  sisters  and 
their  brother  the  seven  deadly  sins."  He  is  writing  in 
the  life-time  of  this  brother,  who,  after  having  been 
brought  up  to  the  Church  and  appointed  in  his  youth 
Bishop  of  Lyons  and  a  Cardinal,  had  become  a  soldier 
when  his  elder  brother  had  been  killed  at  the  siege  of 
Laon.  By  the  influence  of  his  sister  he  had  become 
the  Mar^chal  d'Estr^es  long  before  Tallemant  des  R6aux 
mentioned  him  in  such  flattering  terms. 

If  the  six  daughters  and  the  brother  were  such  as 
described  they  were  distinctly  to  be  pitied,  for  their 
viciousness  was  the  result  of  their  training.  They  owed 
it  to  the  fact  of  having  possessed  for  a  mother  one  who, 
without  being  given  to  violent  crimes,  was  the  incarnation 
of  all  that  was  bad  in  woman. 

The  Mar^chal  de  Bassompierre  mentions,  in  his 
Nouveaux  Miemoires,  published  in  1802,  from  the  manu- 
script which  came  from  the  collection  of  the  President 
H^nault,  many  details  concerning  this  depraved  woman, 
Fran9oise  Babou,  of  whom  he  says  that  she  made  no 

335 


33 6         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

scruple  in  trafficking  in  her  own  daughters,  and  also 
mentions  that  she  was  eventually  killed  at  Issoire,  by 
the  side  of  her  lover,  M.  d'Alegre.  With  this  gentleman, 
who  was  her  brother-in-law,  she  had  run  away  from 
her  home,  taking  one  of  her  daughters  with  her. 

There  is  plenty  of  independent  evidence  of  the  fact 
that  the  mother  of  Gabrielle  was  one  of  the  worst  of 
that  type  of  grande  dame,  utterly  devoid  of  all  sense 
of  morality,  that  flourished  all  too  abundantly  on  the 
fruitful  soil  of  France  during  the  period  immediately 
succeeding  the  Renaissance.  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  for 
instance,  cannot  speak  badly  enough  of  the  stock  from 
which  she  sprung :  "  This  Madame  d'Estrees  was  of 
the  House  of  La  Bourdaisiere,  the  most  fertile  race 
of  lively  ladies  that  has  ever  existed  in  France.  They 
say  that  one  Madame  de  la  Bourdaisiere  openly  boasted 
of  having  been  the  lover  of  Pope  Clement  VII.  at  Nice, 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  when  he  passed  through 
France,  and  of  the  King  Fran9ois  I.  One  can  add  up," 
continues  this  gossip  of  the  sixteenth  century,  "  as  many 
as  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  of  them,  some  nuns,  some 
married,  who  openly  mis-behaved  themselves."  Talle- 
mant does  not  willingly  relinquish  this  improper  bevy 
of  ladies,  and  even  publishes  a  witty  quatrain  illustrative 
of  the  fact  that  their  improprieties  were  allegorically 
referred  to  in  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  House  of  La 
Bourdaisiere.  With  a  mother  springing  from  such  a 
family,  and  in  her  own  person  an  example  of  its  worst 
traditions,  what  chance  could  there  be  for  the  daughters } 

These  were  to  be  pitied,  more  than  blamed,  for  the 
levity  which  marked  their  career,  especially  as  from  an 
early  age  Madame  d'Estrees  looked  upon  them  as  articles 
of  commerce. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  337 

Thus  while  one  of  them,  named  Diane,  was  sold  to 
the  Due  d'Epernon,  whose  daughter  by  her  became  an 
Abbess  at  Metz,  to  d'Epernon  it  was  that  Fran9oise 
Babou  entrusted  the  first  deal  which  she  made  of  her 
daughter  Gabrielle,  then  of  the  age  of  sixteen.  The 
mignon  had  no  scruple  about  offering  the  child,  already 
beautiful  and  possessing  an  elegant  figure,  to  his  depraved 
master  Henri  III,,  who  bought  her,  without  having  seen 
her,  upon  his  favourite's  recommendation  alone. 

Henri  III.  sent  the  sum  of  six  thousand  crowns  for 
the  girl  by  a  favourite  courtier  named  Montigny.  This 
messenger,  however,  cheated  Madame  d'Estr6es  out  of 
two  thousand  crowns,  which  he  kept,  and  bought  the 
youthful  Gabrielle  for  only  four  thousand.  When  the 
King  learned  of  this  circumstance,  later,  Montigny  lost 
his  favour  with  his  master,  who  was  greatly  enraged. 
The  Due  de  Joyeuse,  however,  eventually  made  peace 
between  this  pair  of  girl-buying  scamps — the  King  and 
the  courtier. 

The  degraded  King  soon  tired  of  Gabrielle  ;  he  said 
that  she  was  "just  as  white  and  as  slim  as  the  Queen," 
and  that  he  did  not  require  any  more  ladies  of  that  sort 
about  his  person.  The  mother  then  trafficked  her  fifth 
daughter  to  various  other  persons  in  turn.  Among  these 
were  Zamet,  the  rich  Moorish  banker,  subsequently  the 
boon  companion  of  Henri  IV.,  and  at  whose  palatial 
residence  Gabrielle  eventually  found  her  death  by  poison. 
Another  lover,  for  a  year,  was  the  Cardinal  de  Guise, 
the  brother  of  the  Due,  and  like  him  murdered  at  Blois 
by  the  King  in  December  1588.  The  Cardinal,  however, 
relinquished  his  young  mistress  upon  finding  that  the 
infamous  Marquise  d'Estrees  had  likewise  sold  her  to 
the  Due  de  Longueville,  who  was  seeing  her  in  secret. 


33 8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Now  it  was  that  M.  le  Grand  (the  Due  de  Belle- 
garde)  first  came  upon  the  scene,  a  nobleman  who 
evidently  loved  Gabrielle  from  the  first,  and  who  would 
probably  have  eventually  married  the  young  girl  had  it 
not  been  for  the  arbitrary  action  of  Henri  de  Navarre 
in  taking  her  from  him  by  force. 

King  Henri  III.  had  evidently  retained  the  daughter 
of  Antoine  d'Estrees  at  the  Louvre,  since  it  was  during 
the  year  1589,  and  before  his  flight  to  Blois,  that  he  took 
a  childish  delight  in  throwing  the  young  girl  and  his 
favourite  Bellegarde  into  each  other's  society.  About 
this  circumstance  Bassompierre  remarks  : 

*'  M.  le  Grand,  who  was  then  in  high  favour, 
found  her  very  much  to  his  liking,  and  the  King,  who 
only  sought  to  please  him,  made  himself  their  go-between. 
He  caused  them  to  dress  in  the  same  colours  at  his  balls, 
made  them  dance  together,  and  was  delighted  when 
people  praised  them  as  a  handsome  couple.  But  when 
things  were  at  this  point  Madame  d'Estrees  carried  her 
off  back  to  Cceuvres,  with  her  sisters  Denan  and 
Diane,  and  shortly  afterwards,  accompanied  only  by 
her  youngest  daughter  Juliette,  she  left  her  husband 
to  go  to  Alegre,  the  Governor  of  Issoire,  whom  she 
loved." 

After  the  departure  of  their  mother  with  her  sixth 
daughter,  the  remaining  girls  of  the  family  of  d'Estrees 
were  left  to  run  wild  and  to  do  as  they  chose  at  Cceuvres. 
We  are  not,  therefore,  surprised  to  learn  that  they  were 
courted  and  loved  by  various  gentlemen  of  the  neighbour- 
hood, nor  that  the  Due  de  Longueville  contrived  to  see 
Gabrielle  again  when  passing  by  the  Chateau  de  Coeuvres, 
while  Bellegarde  was  even  enabled  to  come  and  stay 
there  secredy. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  339 

Such,  then,  was  the  youthful  career  of  the  young  lady 
whom  Voltaire  so  highly  glorified  in  his  famous  poem 
in  honour  of  Henri  IV.,  called  the  Henriade. 

The  great  poet  and  philosopher,  however,  consider- 
ably overshot  the  mark  when  he  sang  of  Gabrielle  : 

Son  coeur,  ne  pour  aimer,  mais  fier  et  g^ndreux, 
D'aucun  amant  encore  n'avait  re^u  les  voeux; 
Setnblable,  en  son  printemps,  k  la  rose  nouvelle 
Qui  renferme  en  naissant  sa  beaute  naturelle, 
Cache  aux  vents  amoureux  les  tresors  de  son  sein, 
Et  s'ouvre  aux  doux  rayons  d'un  jour  pur  et  serein. 

Historians  differ  as  to  the  year  in  which  Gabrielle 
d'Estr^es  was  born,  some  having  set  the  date  of  her  birth 
in  1565.  It  seems,  however,  that  those  who  follow 
Dreux  du  Radier,  and  mention  her  natal  day  as  having 
been  in  1571,  are  correct.  This  would  bring  her  to 
her  twentieth  year  by  the  time  that  she  met  Henri  IV., 
who  was  then  between  thirty-eight  and  thirty-nine. 
Radier  describes  her  at  this  epoch  of  her  life  as  having 
the  loveliest  head  in  the  world,  with  quantities  of  blonde 
hair,  and  blue  eyes  of  a  dazzling  brilliancy.  Her  colour- 
ing he  likens  to  that  of  the  Graces,  in  which  the  lily 
overcomes  the  rose  ;  her  nose  was,  he  remarks,  well 
made,  but  he  does  not  describe  its  shape.  Concerning 
her  other  points  Dreux  du  Radier  is  so  enthusiastic  that 
it  is  indeed  no  wonder  if  a  Prince  of  the  temperament  of 
Henri  IV.  fell  an  easy  victim  to  the  owner  of  so  many 
charms.  She  had,  it  would  appear,  "  a  mouth  upon 
which  reposed  both  sportiveness  and  love,  and  perfectly 
furnished  ;  that  turn  of  the  face  which  painters  take  as  a 
model  ;  a  small  ear,  lively  and  well-bordered  ;  her  bosom 
of  a  beauty  to  make  one  forget  all  the  others  ;  the  figure, 


340         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  arms,  the  hand,  the  foot,  all  corresponded  to  the 
head,  and  formed  an  ensemble  which  one  could  not 
admire  without  suffering  for  so  doing." 

An  attractive  young  woman,  surely  !  Even  the  ear, 
lively  and  well  bordered  (yive  et  bien  bordee)^  seems  to 
imply  something  agreeable,  although  exactly  what  it  is 
we  confess  ourselves  as  being  unable  to  realise. 

Why  is  it,  by  the  way,  while  the  pen-pictures  of  these 
noted  beauties,  such  as  Marguerite  and  Gabrielle,  portray 
them  to  us  as  being  so  admirable,  so  entrancing  in  every 
respect  that  men  are  ready  to  die  for  their  possession, 
that  not  a  painter  has  been  able  to  do  the  same?  From 
the  pictures  that  have  come  down  to  us  of  nearly  all  of 
these  beautiful  Queens,  and  beautiful  mistresses  of  Kings, 
including  those  of  the  later  Bourbons  and  of  Charles  II. 
of  England,  one  is  apt  to  turn  away  with  a  feeling  of  sad- 
ness, of  disappointment,  a  sense  somehow  of  having  been 
taken  in.  **  If  they  were  only  like  that,  after  all,"  we 
inly  exclaim,  "then  any  little  grisette  of  the  period, 
dressed  up  appropriately,  would  have  done  for  the  por- 
trait just  as  well !  "  There  are,  of  course,  a  few  ex- 
ceptions— Isabella  of  Portugal,  wife  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  by  Titian,  the  nude  picture  of  Diane  de 
Poitiers,  by  Primaticcio,  and  a  couple  of  the  paintings 
of  Marie  Antoinette,  by  Madame  le  Brun,  are  among 
these  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  alas  !  the  wielder  of  the  brush  has 
as  signally  failed  as  he  of  the  pen  has  succeeded — and 
usually  in  bare  prose. 

In  making  the  above  reflections  we  had  before  us 
half  a  dozen  pictures  of  both  Marguerite  de  Valois  and 
Gabrielle.  In  vain,  for  the  hundredth  time,  we  sought 
for  a  trace  of  those  excessive  charms  so  glorified  by 
Brantome,    so    confidently   dwelt   upon    by   Dreux    du 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  34 1 

Radier.  Finally,  with  a  becoming  feeling  of  resignation, 
we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  must  have  been  for  the 
good  of  posterity  that  the  kind-hearted  painters  sought 
to  spare  those  of  a  later  day  from  the  dire  effects  of  such 
fatal  beauties,  as  experienced,  in  their  own  times,  by  the 
hearts  of  men. 

Having  arrived  at  the  above  comforting  conclusion, 
which  we  trust  may  be  found  equally  satisfactory  to  the 
reader  as  to  ourselves,  we  cannot  refuse  ourselves  the  satis- 
faction of  presenting  to  the  said  reader's  eyes  an  amusing 
little  panegyric  in  verse  upon  the  eyes  of  Gabrielle. 
Porch^res,  the  author  of  the  quatrain,  was,  it  is  said, 
rewarded  for  his  effusion  by  a  yearly  pension  of  fourteen 
hundred  livres ! 

Ce  ne  sont  pas  des  yeux,  ce  sont  plutdt  des  dieux ; 
lis  ont  dessus  les  rois  la  puissance  absolue. 
Dieux  ?    Non,  ce  sont  des  cieux ;  ils  ont  la  couleur  bleue 
Et  le  mouvement  prompt  comme  celui  des  cieux. 

If  some  of  the  painters  of  prose-portraits  of  this 
bewitching  mistress  succeeded  in  drawing  a  picture  which 
has  lasted  until  our  time,  without  probably  any  other 
intention  than  that  of  writing  for  their  contemporaries, 
the  painters  in  verse  we  can  only  imagine  to  have  written 
for  Henri  IV.  and  Gabrielle  alone,  with  a  view  to  the 
lining  of  their  own  pockets  at  the  time  they  wrote.  Some 
of  these  so-called  poems  were  ridiculous  indeed  ;  but  the 
vanity  of  their  subject  was  greater,  and,  since  she  con- 
trolled the  King,  when  he  had  any  money  the  poets  who 
happened  to  present  their  poems  of  praise  at  the  proper 
time  were  bound  to  obtain  their  share. 

The  verses  of  a  certain  Guillaume  du  Sable  have  a 
wild  peculiarity  all  their  own.     They  describe  Gabrielle*s 


34*         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

beauty,  for  instance,  by  saying  that  her  nose  decorates  both 
her  cheeks,  and  by  praising  her  lovely  double  chin  ! 

Son  beau  nez  decorant  et  Tune  et  I'autre  joue 
Sur  lesquelles  Amour  a  toute  heure  se  joue. 
Heureux  qui  peut  baiser  sa  bouche  cinabrine, 
Ses  levres  de  corail,  sa  denture  yvoirine, 
Son  beau  double  menton,  Tune  des  sept  beautes. 

The  rest  of  this  poem  descends  to  a  strange  familiarity  of 
description,  which  will  hardly  bear  reproduction  nowa- 
days. As  will  be  noticed,  from  its  peculiar  adjectives 
cinabrine  and  yvoirine,  it  is  written  in  what  is  termed 
the  French  Renaissance  style,  and  to  reproduce  it  would 
therefore  be  too  much  like  putting  into  words  the 
Renaissance  picture  just  mentioned  of  the  famous 
mistress  of  Henri  II.  painted  in  the  nude. 

With  so  many  descriptions,  which  are  apparently 
authentic,  in  existence,  it  is  strange  how  few  there  are 
which  describe  Gabrielle's  favourite  tastes  and  occupations. 
That  they  were  not  literary  we  know,  for  the  sole  book 
that  we  hear  of  her  ever  possessing  is  a  Book  of  Hours, 
into  which  she  dipped  occasionally  when  she  found  a 
minute  or  two  to  spare.  The  best  epitome  of  her 
character  is  probably  that  contained  in  a  couple  of  lines 
of  the  famous  critic,  M.  Sainte-Beuve,  who  remarks  : 
"  She  was  completely  a  woman  in  her  tastes,  in  her 
ambitions,  and  even  in  her  very  faults." 

When  this  is  said  of  Gabrielle  there  is  perhaps  no 
need  for  more  ;  therefore  let  us  now  turn  our  thoughts 
to  the  already  grey-bearded  man  whom  she  had  capti- 
vated, and  see  what  he  was  like  in  1591,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-eight. 

Dreux  du  Radier  gives  his  portrait  at  this  period  in 
the   following   words:    "Henri,  tall,  well-made,    a   full 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  343 

figure,  quick  eyes,  a  broad  forehead,  a  long  nose,  a 
warlike  air,  and,  with  a  long  beard,  already  grey,  was  not 
by  any  means  a  mignon  of  the  bedchamber,  and  toilet 
accessories  were  unnecessary  to  him  to  please  a  woman 
of  the  taste  of  Ang61ique." 

The  slovenliness  of  the  Bearnais  which  is  here  referred 
to  is  well  known,  but  that  all  women  could  not  put  up 
with  it  without  a  certain  feeling  of  disgust  is  evidenced 
by  the  attitude  taken  on  the  subject  by  his  wife  Marguerite. 
This  fastidious  Princess,  according  to  the  Divorce  Satyrique, 
had,  during  her  residence  at  Ndrac,  even  shown  the  ill 
taste  of  accusing  her  husband  of  being  dirty. 

When,  in  the  year  1584,  the  King  of  Navarre  went 
to  meet  '*  La  Reine  Margot  "  after  her  first  residence  at 
Agen,  which  succeeded  her  expulsion  from  the  Louvre, 
he  is  said  to  have  done  so  reluctantly,  as  he  bore  her 
a  grudge  for  certain  bygone  matters  which  had  given 
him  cause  for  irritation.  Among  these  were  the  excessive 
epicureanism  of  Marguerite,  which  caused  her  to  indulge 
in  black  silken  sheets  in  that  chamber  lighted  by  a 
thousand  candles  in  which  she  affected  to  receive  with 
repugnance  a  husband  who  returned  all  hot  and  dusty 
from  the  chase.  She  then  offended  his  susceptibilities 
greatly  by  ostentatiously  causing  her  bed  to  be  perfumed 
and  the  bed-clothing  changed  whenever  he  occupied  it. 
"Some  women  might  likewise,"  remarked  Marguerite 
one  day  angrily,  "  be  able  to  put  up  with  a  husband 
who  came  to  table  unwashed,"  but  that,  for  her  part,  if 
he  continued  to  do  so  before  he  sat  down  with  her, 
she  trusted  that  he  would  find  it  no  reason  for  complaint 
if  she  caused  her  women  to  wash  the  King  of  Navarre's 
feet  before  she  would  permit  him  to  sit  at  table  with  the 
daughter,  grand-daughter,  and  sister  of  Kings  of  France  ! 


344         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

From  the  above  it  is  evident  that,  far  from  going 
to  the  extremes  of  dress  and  adornment,  fashionable  in 
those  days  for  men  at  the  Court  of  the  Valois,  Henri 
was  indeed  careless  to  excess,  and  far  too  ready  to  carry 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  camp  with  him  to  the 
boudoir.  Marguerite  therefore  undoubtedly  had  cause 
to  complain,  but  she  might  have  probably  had  more 
success  in  reforming  his  slovenly  habits  had  she  set  about 
the  matter  in  a  less  haughty  manner. 

While  various  historians,  Michelet  among  the  number, 
refer  to  the  satyr-like  appearance  of  this  Prince,  to  get 
a  good,  general  idea  of  Henri  IV.,  as  man,  lover  and 
soldier,  one  cannot  seek  a  better  source  than  the  pages 
of  Lescure.  That  author  remarks  :  "  The  threefold 
character  of  his  face  denotes  that  he  is  at  once  jovial, 
cordial,  and  warlike.  One  scents  in  him  at  once  the 
gay  storyteller,  the  good  companion,  the  cheval-liger,  as 
Sully  says,  the  man  of  short  recitals,  long  repasts,  hot 
kisses.  In  Henri  IV.  we  see  Francois  I.  softened,  toned 
down,  ennobled. 

"  The  inflexibility  of  the  Knight-King,  the  weather- 
beaten  soldier-King,  as  seen  in  the  dry  and  hard  profile, 
in  the  heavy  extremities  of  Francois,  is  replaced  by 
malicious  courtesy  and  the  spirituel  good  nature  of  the 
Bearnais.  To  what  can  one  attribute  the  difference  of 
the  welcome  made  to  two  Princes  equally  brave,  gallant 
to  women,  and  in  genius,  equally  surrounded  by  artists 
and  poets,  if  it  be  not  that  Francois  I.  was  wanting  in  the 
charm  which  Henri  IV.  possessed  .? 

"  It  was  impossible  to  see  him  without  loving  him. 
On  seeing  him  women  blushed,  children  laughed,  old 
men  wept.  To  the  first  he  recalled  the  lover,  to  the 
second  the  father,  to  the  latter  possibly  the  son.     No 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  345 

King  was  more  a  man.  All  the  secret  is  there.  The 
Henri  of  1592  is  no  longer  the  B6arnais  of  the  restless 
and  suffering  days,  worn  out  by  domestic  struggle,  tor- 
mented with  presentiments  of  coming  ingratitude  and 
vengeance.  Now  it  is  the  Bearnais,  militant,  triumphing 
in  the  sweet  hours  of  his  apogee,  of  the  apotheosis  of  his 
fortune.  It  is  Henri  IV.  happy,  smiling  at  Gabrielle  and 
at  France,  his  other  mistress.  His  manly  face,  coloured 
by  the  purple  of  a  blood  which  is  still  rich,  is  illumined 
with  glory  and  with  love.  There  is  in  him  a  sympathetic 
happiness.  His  dilated  pupil  sparkles  with  every  hope. 
His  nostrils  tremble  and  his  lips  palpitate.  All  his  traits 
breathe  the  ultimate  and  powerful  harmony  of  spirit  and 
senses.  He  is  all  movement,  all  action,  all  life.  Last  of 
all,  he  is  King — the  King  of  the  finest  Kingdom  in  the 
universe,  after  heaven." 

The  above  may  be  somewhat  extravagant,  but  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  writer  can  easily  be  shared  by  the  reader. 
It  explains,  better  than  anything  else,  what  we  would  seek 
to  find  in  Henri  IV. — what,  in  fact,  was  Henri  IV.  As 
we  read  this  glowing  panegyric  we  feel  likewise  that  we 
approve  of  the  author's  simile  when  he  finally  exclaims  : 
"  I  will  not  choose,  as  his  symbol,  the  he-goat  or  the  satyr 
of  the  pamphlets  of  the  Huguenots  or  the  sermons  of  the 
League  :  I  would  choose  the  cock,  the  French  bird  par 
excellence^  raised  up  on  his  nervous  spurs,  beating  his 
wings,  and  saluting  with  his  startling  voice  the  intoxicating 
sun  of  glory,  of  peace,  and  of  love  !  "  Lescure  is  right ! 
Decidedly  Henri  IV.  was,  in  many  respects,  the  prototype 
of  M.  Rostand's  Chantecler ! 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

Henri's  Jealousy  of  Bellegarde 

1591— 1596 

In  one  way,  the  political  action  of  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  was 
very  great — so  great  as  to  have  influenced  the  fortunes  of 
France  for  good  or  ill  for  two  hundred  years :  she 
persuaded  Henri  de  Navarre  to  abjure  his  religion  and 
become  a  Catholic.  The  Protestant  Sully  seconded  the 
advice  of  the  mistress,  said  to  be  inclined  to  Protestantism. 
Had  Henri  not  followed  it,  although,  by  maintaining  a 
constant  state  of  civil  warfare,  he  might  possibly  have 
been  able  to  hold  the  throne  for  his  time,  he  would 
certainly  never  have  controlled  the  whole  Kingdom  of 
France.  Nor  would  he  have  been  able  eventually  to 
marry  again  and  peacefully  rear  up  a  brood  of  Bourbons, 
whom  the  whole  country  should  recognise  as  the  lawful 
successors  to  the  Crown. 

Some  Catholic  French  authors  have  extolled  to  the 
skies  this  action  of  the  King's  pretty  paramour,  at  the 
same  time  that  others,  in  a  Puritan  spirit,  have  condemned 
the  levity  of  Henri's  famous  letter  to  her,  when  he  had 
decided  to  take  her  advice.  '*  I  am  about  to  take  the 
perilous  leap.  I  send  you  sixty  cavaliers  to  bring  you 
back  to  me." 

The    arguments     of    the   religionists   are,    however, 

346 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         347 

altogether  out  of  place,  for  it  was  pure  policy — not 
religion — that  prompted  the  change  of  faith.  While 
Henri  may  or  may  not  have  made  use  of  the  oft-quoted 
phrase,  **  Paris  is  well  worth  a  Mass,"  it  was  his  accepta- 
tion of  the  Mass  which  secured  to  him  the  Crown  ;  and 
Gabrielle,  who  knew  that  such  would  be  the  case,  per- 
suaded him  to  accept  it  accordingly,  for  she  had  her  own 
kettle  of  fish  to  fry. 

Whereas  the  Protestant  ministers  were  making  a  loud 
outcry  about  the  doubly  adulterous  union  of  Madame  de 
Liancourt  and  their  King,  the  Catholic  authorities  were 
far  more  indulgent.  They  were  prepared,  so  they  hinted, 
in  the  case  of  the  King's  conversion,  to  accept  the  ex- 
tremely irregular  divorce  of  Gabrielle,  which  was,  indeed, 
on  the  ridiculous  grounds  of  nullity  and  non-consumma- 
tion, to  which  terms  M.  de  Liancourt  had  been  compelled 
to  subscribe  by  the  King. 

Likewise  the  Churchmen,  in  negotiation  with  both 
Henri  and  his  mistress,  said  that  they  would  give  their 
aid  with  the  Pope  in  the  matter  of  obtaining  a  divorce 
for  the  King  from  Marguerite,  in  case  that  he  should 
become  a  Catholic.  Thus  there  would  be  thrown  open 
to  Gabrielle  the  opportunity  of  marriage  with  Henri  and 
a  share  of  Henri's  throne.  This  it  was,  more  than  any 
other  consideration,  which  decided  Gabrielle  to  throw  all 
her  influence  with  her  Royal  lover  in  favour  of  his 
desertion  of  the  Huguenot  faith,  and  thus  it  was  that, 
although  really  attached  to  the  Protestant  religion,  Henri 
agreed  "  to  take  the  perilous  leap." 

Although,  from  early  associations,  attached  to  his 
mother's  faith,  Gabrielle  knew  that  the  religious  feelings 
— that  is  to  say,  the  sectarian  feelings — of  Henri  were 
not  strongly  developed.     He  had  long  before  his  union 

21 


34^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

with  her  expressed  the  opinion,  in  a  letter  :  "  Those  who 
follow  their  conscience  straightly  are  of  my  religion,  and 
I  am  of  that  of  all  who  are  brave  and  good."  Moreover, 
while  discussing  the  question  with  Du  Plessis-Mornay, 
he  remarked  optimistically :  "  Perhaps,  also,  the  difference 
between  the  two  religions  is  not  so  great  as  the  animosity 
of  those  who  preach  them.  One  day,  by  my  authority, 
I  will  try  to  arrange  all  that." 

Before  the  solemn  abjuration  made  by  Henri  IV.  at 
Saint-Denis  on  July  25th,  1593,  Gabrielle  was  in  the 
habit  of  following  him  about  to  the  various  camps 
wherever  he  might  be.  Her  aunt,  Madame  de  Sourdis, 
one  of  the  rotten  stock  of  La  Bourdaisi^re,  had  assisted 
her,  in  the  first  instance,  to  run  away  from  her  husband, 
and  accompanied  her  to  join  the  King  at  the  siege  of 
Chartres.  For  thus  acting  as  chaperon,  both  Madame 
de  Sourdis  and  her  husband  were  subsequently  the 
recipients  of  many  Royal  favours  and  rewards. 

During  the  long-spun-out  siege,  or  rather  blockade, 
of  Paris  Gabrielle  lived  in  two  separate  residences.  One 
of  them  was  at  the  summit  of  Montmartre,  the  other  on 
the  hill  which  overlooked  Saint-Denis.  In  these  two 
dwellings  Henri  frequently  visited  her,  but  during  those 
early  years  the  love-stricken  monarch  was  compelled  to 
endure  tortures  from  jealousy  of  his  mistress. 

Had  it  not  been  that  this  fact  is  attested  by  his  own 
letters  to  his  beloved,  as  we  will  presently  show,  we 
should  have  been  inclined  entirely  to  disregard  the 
various  good  stories  told  of  the  manner  in  which 
Gabrielle  was  on  various  occasions  almost  surprised 
with  Bellegarde  by  Henri  de  Navarre.  One's  natural 
inclination  is  to  set  them  all  down  to  the  malevolence 
of    Mademoiselle   de    Guise,    Princesse    de   Conti,    who 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  349 

sought  for  herself  the  place  that  Gabrielle  occupied. 
Even  the  worthy  Conseillei  of  the  Parliament,  Pierre 
de  I'Etoile,  or  Lestoille,  is  not  above  suspicion,  in  his 
Journal  and  M^moires,  of  having  a  little  spiteful  feeling 
vi'hile  retailing  the  ill-natured  gossip  of  Gabrielle's  bed- 
chamber w^oman,  who  went  by  the  nickname  of  La 
Rousse.  Would  such  a  fact  be  unnatural,  when  it  is 
considered  that,  during  a  period  of  the  greatest  distress 
throughout  the  Kingdom,  when  the  King  himself  was 
often  at  starvation  point  with  his  armies,  Gabrielle  was 
always  gorgeously  arrayed  in  silks  and  jewels,  had  heaps 
of  money  to  spend,  and  lived  in  the  greatest  magnificence 
hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  Royal  State  ? 

Such  contrasts  are  apt  to  beget  feelings  of  spite  in 
Parliamentary  chroniclers  like  Lestoille  no  less  than  in 
the  bosoms  of  cast-off  mistresses  of  the  moment,  to 
which  class  Mademoiselle  de  Guise  would  seem  to  have 
belonged.  This  young  Princess  had  another  reason  than 
her  jealousy  of  the  King  for  speaking  ill  of  Gabrielle  : 
this  was  her  jealousy  of  Bellegarde,  with  whom  she 
herself  indulged  in  follying  and  philandering  to  an 
unlimited  extent. 

When,  by  the  very  arbitrary  command  of  the  King, 
the  good-looking  young  Roger  de  Saint-Larry,  Due  de 
Bellegarde,  was  forced  openly  to  give  up  his  Gabrielle, 
until  then  his  very  own,  not  being  able  to  resign  him- 
self to  continual  and  complete  separation,  he  sought 
some  object  near  enough  to  his  former  sweetheart  to 
justify  him  in  hanging  about  within  easy  reach  of  her 
society. 

This  object  he  found  in  the  fair  Mademoiselle  de 
Guise,  as  this  young  Princess,  although  disappointed  and 
vicious  at  heart,  thought  it  to  her  interests  to  show  the 


35°         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

greatest  friendliness  towards  the  King's  new  favourite. 
Being  by  no  means  difficult  to  approach,  and  only  too 
anxious  to  take  from  Gabrielle  the  lover  of  her  heart, 
the  future  Princesse  de  Conti  met  the  handsome  Belle- 
garde  more  than  half-way,  and  flung  herself  into  his 
arms. 

Alas  for  her  !  while  her  passion  became  real  that  of 
the  Due  was  more  than  half  simulated,  while,  his  liaison 
being  no  secret,  it  served  as  a  cloak  to  his  remaining  a 
great  deal  nearer  to  Gabrielle  than  the  King  liked  to  see 
him  ;  still,  for  a  time,  Henri  could  not  find  any  sufficient 
reason  to  justify  him  in  sending  away  the  man  whom  he 
had  robbed  of  his  lady-love. 

The  good  intelligence  between  Grabrielle  and  Belle- 
garde,  however,  continued,  with  the  result  that,  upon 
many  occasions  during  the  King's  absence,  he  found  the 
means  of  visiting  her  in  secret.  This  is  all  that  is  certain ; 
but  Gabrielle's  rival  and  other  gossips  have  taken  care  to 
leave  on  record  various  details,  which  they  may  either 
have  invented  themselves  or  which  may  have  been  the 
invention  of  the  woman  called  La  Rousse,  who  is  given 
the  name  of  Arphure  by  Vanel  in  his  Qalanteries  des  rots 
de  France. 

This  woman  is  painted  in  the  blackest  colours  by  the 
Due  de  Sully,  who  states  that  both  she  and  her  husband 
were  treated  to  six  years'  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille 
for  having  dared  to  spread  reports  injurious  to  the  King's 
mistress.  Such  punishment  for  libel  might  be  considered 
a  little  severe  nowadays,  especially  as  it  seems  unlikely 
that  the  woman  or  her  husband  had  any  opportunity  of 
defending  themselves  in  an  open  trial.  It  must,  however, 
be  remembered  that  Henri  was  a  humane  King,  and 
under  any   other  it  is  more  than  probable  that,  having 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  351 

been  thrust  into  the  Bastille,  they  would  have  been 
forgotten  and  left  to  rot  there  till  they  died,  whether 
innocent  or  guilty.  Henri,  however,  in  all  probability 
remembered  sufficient  about  them  to  order  their  release 
when,  immediately  after  the  death  of  Gabrielle,  he 
promptly  forgot  her  and  took  a  new  mistress. 

One  of  these  stories,  as  told  by  Mademoiselle  de 
Guise,  is  as  follows  : 

In  spite  of  the  King's  suspicions  of  Bellegarde,  he 
was  never  able  to  find  out  anything,  until  one  day  some- 
thing occurred  to  confirm  them  strongly.  He  had  gone 
off  to  one  of  his  country-houses  at  a  distance,  while 
Bellegarde  had  pretended  to  make  a  start  for  Compiegne, 
and  Gabrielle  had  remained  in  bed,  saying  that  she  was 
unwell. 

Bellegarde  returned,  and  was  introduced  into  a  little 
cabinet  by  the  confidante  La  Rousse,  and  there  hidden 
until  Gabrielle  had  got  rid  of  those  about  her.  Then  he 
was  able  to  join  his  old  sweetheart,  and  assure  her  that 
she  alone  reigned  in  his  heart.  Suddenly  there  was  a 
terrible  commotion,  for  the  King,  too,  had  returned  in  a 
hurry  and  a  very  suspicious  humour. 

Bellegarde  was  instantly  hurried  by  La  Rousse  into 
the  little  cabinet,  of  which  she  alone  possessed  the  key, 
and  locked  in  there.  It  looked  out  over  the  garden  by 
one  window,  but  was  some  way  above  the  ground.  Now 
it  was  that  the  trouble  began,  for,  "  The  King  had  no 
sooner  entered  than  he  asked  for  La  Rousse  to  bring 
him  some  confitures,  and  said  that  if  she  could  not  be 
found  some  one  was  to  be  brought  to  open  that  door  or 
break  it  down.  God  knows  in  what  alarm  were  those 
two  persons,  so  close  on  being  discovered  ! 

"  Gabrielle,  seeing  that  the  King  was  hammering  on 


35^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  door  to  break  it  in,  pretended  that  the  noise  greatly- 
upset  her  ;  but  the  King  appeared  to  be  deaf,  and  con- 
tinued to  try  to  break  the  door.  Bellegarde,  seeing  that 
there  was  nothing  else  to  do,  threw  himself  out  of  the 
window  into  the  garden,  and  was  fortunate  enough, 
although  it  was  pretty  high,  not  to  receive  much  injury. 

"  La  Rousse,  who  had  hidden  herself  so  as  not  to 
have  to  open  the  door,  now  came  in,  very  much  upset, 
making  the  excuse  that  she  had  no  idea  that  she  was 
wanted,  and  she  went  off  to  fetch  that  which  the  King 
demanded  with  such  impatience. 

*'  Gabrielle,  seeing  that  she  had  not  been  found  out, 
reproached  Henri  a  thousand  times  for  his  jealousy." 

And  so  the  story  goes  on,  ending  up  with  Henri 
humbly  begging  pardon,  while  vowing  that  jealousy  was 
but  the  purest  sign  of  love. 

The  above  anecdote  must,  we  consider,  be  taken 
with  a  large  grain  of  salt.  Another  story,  more  amusing 
but  more  ridiculous,  is  told  by  half  a  dozen  memoir- 
writers,  including  that  most  forceful  Princess  Elizabeth 
Charlotte  of  Bavaria,  second  wife  of  Philippe  I.,  Due 
d'Orleans,  and  mother  of  the  Regent.  The  details  vary 
a  little  in  each  account,  but  the  main  point  is  the  same 
in  all. 

As  related  by  Madame,  the  Regent's  mother,  it  runs 
that  Henri  IV.,  having  returned  on  purpose  to  catch 
Bellegarde  with  his  mistress,  found  an  elegant  repast  for 
two  spread  in  her  chamber.  As  he  entered  the  room 
the  artful  Bearnais  saw  the  last  of  Bellegarde's  toes 
vanishing  under  the  bed. 

In  the  best  of  good  humour,  and  with  many  a 
sarcastic,  merry  quip,  the  King  sat  down  to  enjoy  the 
dinner  which   had   been   prepared   for  another  cavalier, 


and  of  Marguerite  dc  Valois  353 

but  gave  no  vent  to  his  suspicions.  Suddenly,  taking 
a  roast  partridge,  and  placing  it  on  a  piece  of  bread, 
Henri  flung  them  under  the  bed.  To  Gabrielle's  ex- 
clamation of  astonishment  the  King  responded,  with  a 
shout  of  laughter,  "  Why,  Madame,  surely  you  know 
that  all  the  world  must  live !  " 

After  this  merry  jest  Henri  dc  Navarre  rose  and 
left,  contented  with  having  given  his  mistress  a  good 
fright.  Various  letters  display  the  jealousy  felt  by  the 
King,  but  at  the  same  time  show  how  ready  he  is  to 
believe  Gabrielle's  protestations  that  it  has  no  cause 
for  existence — or,  at  all  events,  a  readiness  to  pretend 
to  do  so.  One  letter  commences  with  the  words,  "  You 
well  know  the  resolution  that  I  have  taken  to  complain 
no  longer.  I  now  take  another,  to  no  longer  become 
angry."  In  another,  after  commencing  by  saying  that, 
in  accordance  with  Gabrielle's  command,  he  will  banish 
all  his  doubts,  being  evidently  unwilling  to  wound  her 
feelings,  Henri  continues  as  follows  : 

"  I  will  protest,  my  dear  mistress,  that  that  which 
I  may  allege  of  the  ofl^ences  I  have  received  is  not  on 
account  of  having  any  remains  of  bitterness  left  in  the 
soul,  feeling  too  well  satisfied  with  the  trouble  you  have 
taken  to  content  me,  but  only  in  order  to  show  you 
my  just  causes  of  suspicion.  You  know  how  greatly 
offended  I  arrived  in  your  presence,  on  account  of  the 
journey  of  my  competitor  [the  Due  de  Bellegarde]. 
The  power  that  your  eyes  had  upon  me  saved  you  the 
half  of  my  complaints.  You  satisfied  me  with  the 
mouth,  not  the  heart,  as  it  appeared ;  but  if  I  had 
known  that  which  I  have  learned  since  being  at  Saint- 
Denis,  concerning  the  said  journey,  I  would  not  have 
seen  you,  but  would  have  broken  off,  flat," 


354         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

We  notice  in  this  letter  that,  as  he  proceeds,  the 
King's  feelings  are  gradually  getting  the  better  of  him  ; 
he  begins  mildly  enough,  but  becomes  more  and  more 
reproachful  while  writing  and  thinking  over  his  wrongs. 
In  spite  of  himself  he  now  lets  himself  go.  "  What 
is  there  that  you  can  promise  me  after  what  you  have 
done  ^  What  faith  can  you  swear  to  me  but  that  which 
you  have  doubly  broken  .''  Deeds  are  required — -no 
longer  talk  of  '  I  will  do ' — but  '  I  do.'  Make  up  your 
mind,  then,  my  mistress,  to  have  only  one  servitor." 
Henri  continues  this  letter  with  a  sneer  at  his  rival, 
whom  he  calls  Dead-leaf  (Feuille-morte)  on  account 
of  his  sallow  hue,  and  accuses  of  having  shown  fear 
before  the  Leaguers.  He,  however,  ends  it  in  the 
most  amiable  and  tender  manner  :  "  I  long  so  greatly 
to  see  you  that  I  would  willingly,  to  reach  you  as  soon 
as  this  letter,  shorten  my  life  by  four  years.  My  love 
can  be  altered  by  nothing  in  the  world — except  a 
rival." 

In  this  manner,  whether  present  or  absent,  Henri 
continued  to  quarrel  and  squabble  with  Gabrielle  on 
the  subject  of  his  rival  until  after  the  birth  of  her 
second  child.  Her  first  son  was  born  in  June  1594, 
at  the  Chateau  de  Coucy,  near  Laon.  When  he  was 
named  Cesar  the  courtiers,  who  were  delighted  with 
the  constant  quarrels  concerning  Bellegarde,  enjoyed 
themselves  very  much  with  a  hn  mot^  which  they  pre- 
tended to  take  as  being  a  serious  fact.  This  was  a 
statement  that  the  King  had  not  named  his  first-born 
by  Gabrielle  Alexandre,  lest  people  should  say  he  was 
Alexandre  Le  Grand  (Alexander  the  Great),  and  so 
named  because  he  was  the  son  of  M.  le  Grand  ;  in 
other  words,  of  Bellegarde, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3SS 

When,  a  year  or  two  later,  a  second  son  made  his 
appearance,  Henri  IV.  made  up  his  mind  that  he  could 
stand  the  presence  of  M.  le  Grand  no  longer.  The 
Grand  Equerry  was  accordingly  angrily  told  by  the  King 
to  leave  his  presence  and  not  to  show  his  face  again  until 
he  came  back  to  the  Court  with  a  wife.  The  spiteful 
story  of  the  circumstances  leading  up  to  this  dismissal  is 
that  there  had  previously  been  a  disagreeable  scene  with 
Gabrielle,  after  Praslin,  the  Captain  of  the  Guards,  had 
been  sent  to  arrest,  and  kill,  Bellegarde  in  Gabrielle' s 
apartments.  This  occurred  after  Beringhen,  the  first 
valei  de  chambre^  had  taken  the  King  a  letter  he  had 
found,  to  say  that  M.  le  Grand  would  be  there.  Praslin, 
being  the  friend  of  both  of  the  lovers,  made  so  much 
noise  in  the  orders  that  he  gave  to  the  archers  under  his 
command,  and  took  so  much  time  in  clumsily  marshalling 
them  outside  the  doors  of  Gabrielle's  apartments,  that 
Bellegarde  had  ample  time  to  make  his  escape. 

Gabrielle  bitterly  reproached  the  King  for  his  suspi- 
cions, and  when  he  replied,  complaining  of  Bellegarde's 
letter,  swore  that  she  had  never  even  seen  any  such  letter, 
if  there  had  been  one  it  had  been  a  forgery,  and  so  on. 
In  the  end  Henri  IV.  apologised  to  his  mistress  for  the 
insult  that  he  had  put  upon  her,  but  he  cut  the  Gordian 
knot  where  Bellegarde  was  concerned.  M.  le  Grand 
had  accordingly  to  give  way,  and  we  can  well  imagine  that 
Gabrielle  was  by  this  time  as  glad  as  the  King  to  see  the 
last  of  an  old  lover  who  took  advantage  of  his  former 
relations  with  the  King's  maitresse  en  titre  to  help  her  so 
frequently  into  mischief  which  brought  her  little  satisfac- 
tion but  great  trouble. 

The  Due  de  Bellegarde  eventually  returned  to  the 
Court  with  a  young  wife.     He  had  obeyed  the  King's 


35^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

orders  and  married  Anne  de  Bueil,  daughter  of  Honore 
de  Bueil,  Seigneur  de  Fontaines. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  after  this  marriage,  we  never 
hear  the  name  of  any  other  lover  being  coupled  with  that 
of  Gabrielle,  while  concerning  Bellegarde  the  King's 
jealous  fears  were  for  ever  laid  at  rest. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 

Gabrielle    d'Estrees    almost    Queen 

1594— 1598 

In  the  whole  course  of  French  history  no  favourite  of 
any  King  was  ever  treated  with  such  marks  of  open 
respect  as  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es.  Whereas  we  see  other 
celebrated  Royal  mistresses  magnificently  established, 
allowed  by  their  rapacity  to  prey  upon  the  people  or 
accompanying  the  various  ill-living  Kings  in  their  coaches, 
sometimes  even  by  the  side  of  the  reigning  Queens,  these 
women  but  remained  the  mistress  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Monarch  as  in  the  eyes  of  the  population.  The  difference 
where  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  was  concerned  was  that,  while 
endeavouring  himself  to  look  upon  her  in  the  light  of  a 
wife,  it  was  in  the  position  of  a  Queen  that  Henri  IV. 
sought  to  impose  her  upon  his  subjects. 

After  the  birth  of  Madame  de  Liancourt's  first  son 
Cdsar,  in  June  1594,  having  previously  created  this 
lady  Marquise  de  Monceaux  and  bestowed  upon  her 
a  splendid  castle  of  that  name,  which  he  had  had  built  for 
her,  Henri  IV.  publicly  legitimated  her  son.  In  the 
deed  registering  the  legitimacy  of  this  boy,  under  the 
name  of  "  Cesar  Monsieur,"  Henri  spoke  of  the  mother 
as  one  whose  society  he  had  sought  with  a  view  to  her 
giving   him    the   heir   which   he  had   never   had  by  the 

357 


3S^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Queen,  owing  to  her  withdrawal  of  herself  from  his 
society  for  ten  years.  While  speaking  of  Gabrielle  in 
terms  befitting  the  most  honourable  of  women,  the  King 
expressed  himself  as  hopeful  that  the  son  "  springing  from 
such  a  stock  would  produce  many  fruits  to  this  State." 

Then,  on  September  1 5th  of  that  same  year,  the  King 
made  a  triumphant  entrance  into  Paris  with  his  mistress, 
by  which  ceremonial  he  sought  to  impress  upon  the 
public  mind  the  fact,  no  matter  if  in  some  out-of-the-way 
corner  of  Auvergne,  called  Usson,  a  former  Queen  of 
France  still  existed,  that  here,  with  him,  was  the  real 
actual  reigning  Queen,  one  who  shared  his  glories,  his 
triumphs,  and  his  throne. 

The  King  himself,  dressed  in  grey  spotted  with  gold, 
bestrode  a  magnificent  grey  charger.  He  rode  behind  a 
regal  open  litter,  covered  with  pearls  and  glittering  with 
diamonds,  in  which  reclined  the  triumphant  mistress, 
nobly  attired  in  black  satin  slashed  with  white.  The 
whole  of  the  garrisons  of  Mantes  and  Saint-Denys 
marched  in  advance,  also  the  civil  oflicials  and  the 
SheriflFs  of  the  city.  At  the  Cathedral  of  Notre-Dame  all 
the  conseillers  of  the  Parliament  awaited  the  King  and  his 
mistress  in  solemn  state,  while  within  the  sacred  fane 
the  Te  Deum  was  sung,  as  though  to  celebrate  some 
great  victory.  Around  the  King  and  the  lady  was  a 
brilliant  cortege  of  the  greatest  nobles  of  France,  and 
the  visage  of  the  King  was  all  bright  and  smiling  as, 
with  hat  constantly  in  hand,  he  saluted  all  the  pretty 
ladies  and  demoiselles  who  hung  out  of  the  windows 
to  wave  their  hands  and  handkerchiefs.  All  around 
the  people  shouted  "  Vive  le  Roi !  Vive  le  Roi ! " 

It  was  the  moment  of  the  victory  of  Gabrielle,  the 
hour  which  silenced  all  her  detractors,  and  rendered  her 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  359 

supreme.  This  publicly  established  credit  of  the  mistress, 
far  from  diminishing,  went  on  constantly  increasing  ;  nor 
can  we  say  that  she  proved  herself  unworthy  of  the 
position  in  which  she  found  herself  placed.  Gabrielle 
never  spoke  unkindly  of  any  one,  she  never  wilfully 
made  any  enemies  ;  to  her  it  was  that  France  owed  the 
presence  of  that  splendid  Minister  but  disagreeable  man, 
the  Due  de  Sully,  in  the  Council  of  Finances.  Sub- 
sequently Sully  became  ungrateful,  but  this  was  when, 
in  the  interests  of  his  master  and  the  State,  he  con- 
sidered that  the  favourite  required  too  much  ;  when, 
moreover,  she  had  made  the  foolish  mistake  of  giving 
to  her  father  the  post  of  Captain-General  of  the  Artillery, 
which  Sully  considered  should  belong  by  rights  to  himself. 
Sully  bought  back  the  post  from  d'Estr^es,  but  did  not 
forgive  the  slight. 

Soon,  upon  all  public  occasions,  such  as  the  reception 
of  foreign  Ambassadors,  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  was  to  be 
seen  by  the  King's  side,  while  all  public  functionaries, 
or  Governors  of  cities  or  provinces,  were,  by  Henri's 
direct  instructions,  ordered  to  pay  their  court  to  her  as 
to  himself. 

The  want  of  arrogance,  and  decency  of  manner,  with 
which  Gabrielle  received  all  the  honours  thrust  upon  her 
commended  her  to  the  favourable  notice  of  many  who, 
such  as  the  faithful  Huguenot  watch-dog  d'Aubigne,  found 
it  impossible  to  love  her.  For  they  found  it  difficult  to 
hate  this  woman,  always  smiling,  courteous,  and  agreeable, 
with  the  result  that  d'Aubigne  is  found  himself  com- 
menting upon  the  modesty  of  one  who  occupied  the 
position  of  Queen.  D'Aubigne  speaks  of  "  her  extreme 
beauty,"  while  remarking  that  *'  it  contained  nothing  that 
was  lascivious." 


360         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

After  the  birth  of  her  elder  son  Henri  IV.  com- 
menced to  display  a  liking  for  his  home,  for  a  family 
life.  Also,  according  to  the  historian  Matthieu,  he 
confided  to  Gabrielle  all  the  counsels  that  he  received, 
and  took  her  advice,  and  found  in  her  one  who  was  able 
to  heal  all  the  troubles  by  which  he  was  so  constantly 
beset.  Again,  that  thoughtful  critic  Sainte-Beuve 
remarks  that  she  was  one  of  those  women  who  refresh 
and  repose  the  minds  of  those  who  love  them,  but  not 
of  the  kind  who  stir  up  or  who  keep  open  quarrels. 
This  was  the  faculty  which  imparted  to  Gabrielle  that 
charm  which  enabled  her  to  carry  off  with  decency  and 
distinction  the  doubtful  position  into  which  she  had 
been  thrown. 

Whatever  may  nave  been  her  antecedents  from  youth 
upwards,  whatever  may  have  been  her  indiscretions  for  a 
time  with  Bellegarde,  the  man  whom  she  loved,  from  the 
time  of  his  marriage  her  moral  bearing  was  without  a 
shadow  of  reproach. 

Had  it  so  happened  that  Henri  IV.  had  been  able, 
in  time,  to  succeed  in  his  project  of  obtaining  a  divorce 
and  marrying  her,  Gabrielle  would  by  no  means,  from 
a  moral  point  of  view,  have  proved  a  detriment  to 
Henri  as  his  consort.  She  would  certainly  not  have 
disgraced  the  throne  as  did  Marie  de  M6dicis,  the 
woman  who  was  called  upon  to  occupy  it.  As  a  poli- 
tical union,  however,  in  view  both  of  her  past  and  of 
the  rank  from  which  she  had  been  raised,  all  of  the 
King's  courtiers  and  friends,  no  matter  to  what  religion 
they  belonged,  considered  that  such  a  marriage  would 
prove  a  grievous  error. 

By  the  King's  most  faithful  advisers  this  marriage, 
upon  which  Henri   more  and  more  set  his  heart,   was 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  361 

dreaded,  for  they  considered  that  it  would  tend  to  the 
King's  unpopularity,  and  very  greatly  to  shake  his  seat 
upon  that  throne  upon  which  he  was  as  yet  hardly 
settled. 

While  the  charm  of  Gabrielle  was  recognised,  and 
her  society  sought  by  such  excellent  and  virtuous  women 
as  Catherine  de  Bourbon,  the  King's  sister,  and  Coligny's 
daughter,  first  the  widow  of  Teligny,  then  of  William 
the  Silent  of  Orange,  her  honours  went  on  increasing. 
Upon  the  birth  of  each  successive  child  some  fresh  mark 
was  shown  of  the  King's  attachment. 

She  was  created  Duchesse  de  Beaufort  when,  in  1596, 
her  daughter  Catherine-Henriette  was  born ;  this  daughter 
was  publicly  baptized,  with  all  the  ceremony  of  a  King's 
daughter,  and  her  birth  likewise  made  legal. 

The  state  maintained  by  Gabrielle  was  meanwhile 
Royal,  and,  in  consequence,  great  was  the  grumbling  of 
the  people  of  the  frequently  plague-stricken  and  constantly 
poverty-ridden  land  of  France.  Her  new  dresses,  new 
jewels,  were  the  causes  for  murmurings  ;  the  honest 
women  of  the  country  did  not,  moreover,  spare  **  the 
courtesan  "  who  revelled  in  such  luxury,  as  the  price 
of  her  shame,  while  they  were  compelled  to  forego  even 
the  necessaries  of  life. 

Thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  Gabrielle  has  become 
more  popular  in  the  France  of  later  date  than  in  the 
France  of  which  she  formed,  for  a  moment,  one  of  the 
brightest  stars. 

Lestoille,  distinctly  on  the  side  of  the  people,  who 
considered  themselves  defrauded  by  each  new  gift  to 
the  favourite,  can  neither  help  detailing  these  to  her 
disadvantage  nor  having  an  occasional  sly  cut  at  the 
rustic,  extra-soldierly  bearing  of  the  Bearnais,  by  whose 


362         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

want  of  refinement,  whose  too  frequent  camp-stories,  he 
is  annoyed.  Sully,  like  Lestoille,  was  never  quite  re- 
conciled to  the  want  of  culture,  the  absence  of  all 
approaching  to  les  convenances  in  his  master.  In  nothing 
was  this  bearing  of  what  Sully  calls  the  cheval-Uger  in 
Henri  IV.  more  remarkable  than  in  his  habit  of  con- 
stantly kissing  Gabrielle,  and  permitting  himself  all  kinds 
of  familiarities  with  her  in  public.  It  may  have  been 
that  this  soldier-King  imagined  that  by  openly  indulging 
in  these  cavalier  manners  he  impressed  those  who  wit- 
nessed them  with  his  estimate  of  the  worth  of  his 
mistress — it  may  have  been  that  he  merely  sought  to 
please  himself ;  but,  whether  or  no,  both  Lestoille  and 
Sully  have  plainly  shown  that  they  were  not  pleasing 
to  all. 

A  description  of  what  occurred  at  the  baptism  of  an 
infant  cousin  of  Gabrielle  will  serve  as  an  illustration. 

The  child  baptized  was  that  of  Madame  de  Sourdis, 
and  the  ceremony  took  place  at  Paris,  the  King  and 
Gabrielle  acting  as  godfather  and  godmother. 

The  latter  was  on  that  day  attired  in  a  robe  of  black 
satin  so  loaded  with  pearls  and  stones  that  she  could 
scarcely  hold  herself  up,  while  the  King,  who  wore  one 
of  his  favourite  costumes  of  grey,  "  from  the  time  that 
he  entered  the  church  until  he  left  it  never  ceased 
laughing  with  Madame  de  Liancourt,  and  caressing  her 
sometimes  in  one  manner  sometimes  in  another.  When 
she  had  to  lift  the  child  to  the  font  she  cried  out  : 
"  Mon  Dieu !  how  fat  he  is  !  I  shall  let  him  drop,  he 
is  so  heavy  !  "  **  Fentre-saint-gris  !  "  replied  the  King, 
"don't  fear,  he  will  take  care  not  to  fall;  he  is  too  well 
bridled  and  saddled."  And  a  lady  who  was  there 
present  took  advantage  of  the  King's  good  humour  to 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3^3 

"  chafF  (gosser)  the  King  in  her  turn  "  ;  but  the  badinage 
of  the  King  and  this  lady  in  the  church  was  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  be  impossible  of  reproduction. 

At  the  same  time,  Lestoille  mentions  having  seen  a 
handkerchief  which  had  been  embroidered  for  Gabrielle, 
the  cost  of  which  article  was  nineteen  hundred  crowns — 
for  cash.  While  Henri  liked  to  display  himself  in  grey, 
Gabrielle  was  equally  fond  of  green.  On  one  occasion  we 
hear  of  her  riding,  like  a  man,  hand-in-hand  with  the 
King,  and  attired  entirely  in  green  ;  upon  another,  again 
in  green  satin,  with  buttonholes  embroidered  in  silver, 
the  cost  of  her  hat,  of  taffetas  of  the  colour  of  red  velvet, 
being  two  hundred  crowns.  While  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es 
was  able  to  disport  herself  in  such  fine  raiment,  and  to 
carry  handkerchiefs  of  the  value  of  nineteen  hundred 
crowns,  the  King  was  frequently  to  be  found  with 
scarcely  a  handkerchief  to  his  name. 

He  had,  upon  succeeding  Henri  III.,  made  a  de- 
spicable mignon,  named  the  Chevalier  d'O,  his  Treasurer. 
One  day,  upon  his  complaining  to  d'O,  the  latter  re- 
plied :  "  Sire,  there  is  no  money."  "  My  condition  is 
most  miserable,"  retorted  Henri,  "  you  will  soon  make 
me  go  barefoot."  Turning  to  his  valet,  he  inquired : 
"How  many  shirts  have  I  got.''"  "A  dozen,  sire; 
but  there  are  several  torn."  "  And  how  many  hand- 
kerchiefs ?  is  it  not  eight  that  I  have  left  ?  "  asked  the 
King  anxiously.  "  Just  at  present,"  answered  the  valet, 
"  there  are  only  five." 

Here  d'O  interposed,  with  the  remark  that  he  had 
ordered  linen  of  the  value  of  six  thousand  crowns  from 
Holland,  on   purpose  for  shirts  and  handkerchiefs. 

"  That's  all  very  fine,"  said  Henri,  "  but  in  the 
meantime  you  wish  me  to  resemble  the  scholars  who  all 

22 


3^4         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

have  grand  fur  robes  in  their  native  country,  but  in  the 
meantime  starve  to  death  of  cold." 

The  King  is  likewise  found  writing  to  complain 
bitterly  to  Sully  of  his  wants  at  a  critical  moment.  He 
speaks  with  energy,  and  appeals  to  his  old  follower's 
affection  to  help  him  out.  "  I  am  very  close  to  the 
enemy,  and  have  scarcely  a  horse  fit  to  mount  or  a 
suit  of  armour  that  is  complete  to  put  on  my  back. 
My  shirts  are  all  torn  to  rags,  my  pourpoints  all  out  at 
elbows,  my  saucepan  usually  upside  down,  and  for  the 
last  two  days  I  have  been  dining  and  supping  with  first 
one  and  then  another,  my  purveyors  saying  they  can 
no  longer  supply  my  table,  as  they  have  received  no 
money   for   the  last  six   months,   and  longer, 

"  Now  do  you  think  that  I  deserve  to  be  treated  like 
this,  and  do  you  think  that  I  should  any  longer  allow 
the  financiers  and  treasurers  to  starve  me  to  death,  while 
their  own   tables  are  loaded  with  every  delicacy  ?  " 

This  letter  was  written  in  1596,  but  Gabrielle  had  at 
that  time  no  cause  for  complaint.  She  was  in  that  year 
created  Duchesse  de  Beaufort,  the  estates  of  the  Duchy 
had  been  bought  for  her  by  the  King,  and  she  was,  as 
usual,  living  on  the  fat  of  the  land. 

While  there  are  so  many  letters  in  existence  from  the 
hand  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  by  which  we  are  able  to 
judge  of  his  real  thoughts  and  nature,  there  are,  un- 
fortunately, only  two  written  by  Gabrielle — one  of  which 
is  a  mere  letter  of  condolence  written  in  exaggerated  style. 
Over  these  there  has  been  much  polemical  discussion, 
those  who  seek  to  make  her  out  a  woman  of  but  little 
intelligence  using  them  as  their  weapons.  In  this  dis- 
cussion, upon  such  insufficient  data,  we  think  it,  however, 
wiser  not  to  become  involved. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  365 

At  length  there  came  a  day  when  Henri  had  made  up 
his  mind  no  longer  to  delay,  but  to  make  every  effort  to 
get  rid  of  his  wife  and  marry  his  mistress.  At  the  same 
time  he  resolved  to  unbosom  himself  to  Sully  on  the 
subject  of  this  latter  design.  He  did  so  on  the  first 
occasion,  which  was  shortly  before  the  birth  of  Gabrielle's 
third  child,  Alexandre,  called  the  Chevalier  de  Vendome, 
who  first  saw  the  light  at  Nantes  in  April  1598,  and  was 
legitimised  the  following  year. 

Sully  allowed  the  King  to  talk  to  him  for  a  long  time 
in  general  terms  about  its  being  necessary  for  him  to  be 
married,  while  pretending  not  to  see  what  he  was  driving 
at.  Resorting  to  badinage.  Sully  asked  his  master  at 
length,  playfully,  why  he  did  not  cause  all  the  pretty  girls 
of  the  Kingdom  to  be  assembled  before  him,  become  a 
French  Ahasuerus,  and  select  the  prettiest  Esther  of 
the  lot. 

The  King  laughed,  but  told  Sully  not  to  "  play  the 
beast."  "  Cunning  beast  that  you  are,"  he  remarked  ; 
'*  you  understand  me  perfectly  well,  but  insist  upon 
making  me  speak  out,  and  say  that  some  day  it  might 
come  into  my  head  to  marry  my  mistress." 

The  great  Minister  was  not,  however,  to  be  caught 
on  this  occasion.  He  referred  the  whole  matter  to  merely 
general  terms  of  hypothesis,  while  demonstrating  how 
extremely  awkward  it  might  be  should  children  born  of 
a  mistress  who  had  become  a  wife  contest  the  claims  of 
those  born  before  she  had  been  married. 

Then  the  wily  Sully  managed  to  close  the  discussion 
for  the  time  being,  after  obtaining  the  King's  promise, 
which  was  for  that  matter  given  voluntarily,  not  to 
mention  what  had  been  said  between  them  to  Gabrielle. 
Henri  himself  remarked,  upon  this  occasion,  that  it  might 


366         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

be  as  well  not  to  do  so,  as  his  mistress  had  some  doubts 
in  her  mind  as  to  whether  Sully  did  not  consider  the  good 
of  the  State  and  the  glory  of  the  King  before  the  happi- 
ness of  the  King,  his  mistress,  and  his  children.  The 
King  and  his  Minister  parted  on  the  verge  of  a  quarrel, 
which  broke  out  in  earnest,  although  it  was  not  between 
Henri  and  Sully,  after  the  baptism  of  the  boy  Alexandre, 
which  event  took  place  at  Saint-Germain  in  June  1598. 
The  quarrel  began  upon  the  subject  of  this  baptism,  which 
was,  according  to  the  Minister,  carried  out  far  too  much 
on  the  scale  accorded  to  a  Royal  infant,  lawfully  begotten. 

The  King  agreed  with  his  Minister,  but  said  that  he 
was  not  responsible  in  the  matter,  as  his  orders  had  been 
exceeded.  This  gave  Sully  his  chance  to  complain  of  those 
about  the  Duchesse  de  Beaufort,  whom,  he  said,  forced 
the  King's  hand  in  various  unbecoming  ways.  Again  the 
King  found  himself  upon  the  side  of  his  Minister,  as  he 
did  not  like  having  his  rights  interfered  with  by  any  means 
or  anybody. 

The  Due  de  Sully  found  his  own  authority  supported 
by  letters  which  had  recently  come  from  Marguerite,  who 
had  been  requested  to  agree  amiably  to  a  divorce.  The 
Queen  of  Navarre,  had  previously,  from  mere  diplomacy, 
behaved  in  a  most  amiable  manner  towards  Gabrielle. 
Marguerite  had  even  written,  in  the  previous  year,  when 
she  had  been  despoiled,  for  her  benefit,  of  her  Duchy 
d'Etampes,  consenting  to  this  forced  gift  to  "  that  honest 
lady,"  since  she  was  beloved  by  the  King. 

Now,  however,  she  firmly  declined  to  remove  herself 
from  her  lawful  place  upon  the  throne  "  to  yield  it  to  a 
woman  of  such  base  extraction,  who  had  led  such  a  dirty 
and  ugly  life  as  was  she  who  was  talked  of." 

Quoting  this  letter,   Sully  pointed  out  to  the  King 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  367 

that  M.  de  Fresne  and  Madame  de  Sourdis,  Gabrielle's 
advisers,  had  greatly  overstepped  the  mark,  and  that,  if 
he  would  gain  his  ends,  he  would  have  to  make  use  of 
both  discretion  and  patience.  Hereupon  the  King 
became  angry  with  M.  de  Fresne  and  Madame  de  Sourdis, 
declaring  that  anything  that  the  Duchesse  might  fail  in 
was  entirely  of  their  doing. 

Sully  felt  now  that  he  stood  on  firm  ground  and 
waited  for  an  opportunity  of  jumping  upon  those  advisers 
of  the  Duchesse  of  Beaufort  whose  ill  deeds  he  had 
exposed  to  the  King.  He  had  not  long  to  wait.  Being 
at  the  head  of  the  Finances,  a  paper  came  to  him,  made 
out  by  M.  de  Fresne,  for  payment  of  the  heralds,  trumpets, 
hautbois,  and  other  officials  at  the  baptism  of  "  Alexandre 
Monsieur,"  who  was  designated  by  the  Royal  title  of 
Enfant  de  France. 

It  was  this  title  of  "  Child  of  France "  to  which 
Gabrielle  and  her  advisers  attached  the  chief  importance  ; 
they  did  not  in  the  least  care  about  the  amount  of  the 
total  asked  for.  Now,  what  did  the  cunning  Sully  do  ? 
He  kept  the  paper,  made  out  a  new  one  for  a  less 
amount,  and,  without  any  comment,  sent  it  on  to  the 
Treasurer  for  payment.  The  expected  protest  came  at 
once :  "  Monsieur !  the  amount  to  be  paid  for  the 
baptism  of  Children  of  France  is  settled  from  of  old." 

Sully  had  merely  altered  the  amount  in  order  to  avoid 
the  use  of  the  Royal  title.  He  now  replied,  testily, 
to  M.  de  Fresne  and  others,  complaining  on  behalf  of 
the  Duchesse  :  "  Oh !  get  along !  there  are  not  any 
enfants  de  France T 

Before  the  angry  complainants  could  reach  Gabrielle 
to  tell  her  of  this  insult.  Sully  hurried  off  himself  to  the 
King.     He   complained  of  the   foolish   ambition    which 


368         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

sought  to  multiply  its  titles,  and  to  snatch  from  the 
King  compromising  favours  which  resembled  promises. 
The  Bearnais  at  once  flew  into  a  rage  at  the  idea  of 
being  imposed  upon,  and  sent  Sully  off  to  have  the 
matter  out  with  the  Duchesse. 

Now  it  was  that  the  battle-royal  began.  Gabrielle 
insulted  Sully,  who  ordered  his  carriage  and  returned 
to  the  King.  The  Bearnais  repaired  in  turn,  with  Sully, 
to  the  Convent  of  Saint-Germain,  and,  upon  being  re- 
ceived at  the  door  by  Gabrielle,  neither  kissed  her  nor 
complimented  her  according  to  his  custom. 

In  the  quarrel  which  ensued  Henri  spoke  roughly, 
while  Gabrielle  repeatedly  called  Sully  "  a  valet "  and  a 
mere  *'  servitor."  Becoming  angered  at  length,  Henri  IV. 
replied,  in  a  rage,  that  "  he  would  rather  do  without  ten 
mistresses  like  her  than  without  one  servant  like  Sully." 
We  can  imagine  the  triumph  of  Sully,  but  Gabrielle  was 
dumbfounded. 


CHAPTER    XXXV 
The  Terrible  Death  of  Gabrielle 

April  1599 

Although  the  Queen  of  Navarre  had  been  left  In  peace 
for  a  number  of  years  in  her  fortress  of  Usson,  her 
existence  had  not  been  entirely  forgotten. 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  1592  that  most  excellent 
diplomatist  and  straightforward  counsellor,  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay,  had  ventured  to  reproach  and  reason  with  the 
King  on  his  debauched  mode  of  life.  Not  content  with 
his  affair  with  Gabrielle  d'Estr^es,  Henri  de  Navarre  had 
become  the  father  of  two  daughters  by  a  lady  named 
Charlotte  des  Essards,  he  had  indulged  in  an  intrigue 
with  the  Abbesse  de  Montmartre,  while  a  womian  called 
Armandine  and  a  doctor's  daughter  named  Martine 
Montaigu  had  been  among  his  other  victims.  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay — honest  Protestant  that  he  was — at  last  risked 
the  King's  displeasure,  and,  taking  his  master  severely 
to  task,  pointed  out  to  him  that  he  was  risking  his  soul, 
his  body,  and  his  reputation  in  such  wicked  and  frivolous 
pursuits. 

"  Why  do  you  not  think  of  marrying  me,  then  ?  " 
was  the  reply  of  the  King,  given  with  an  air  of  bravado. 

"  Marry  you  !  Well,  we  shall  have  to  unmarry  you 
first,"  replied  Du  Plessis  ;  but  I  certainly  think  that  it 

369 


370         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

would  be  the  best  thing,  both  for  you  and  for  the  State  ; 
and,  with  your  leave,  Sire,  I  will  set  about  the  matter 
without  delay." 

Mornay  was  as  good  as  his  word.  In  the  beginning 
of  1593  he  placed  himself  in  communication  with  a 
certain  M.  Erard,  the  Master  of  Requests  of  the  Queen 
of  Navarre.  This  official  he  sent  off  to  Usson,  to  demand 
the  consent  of  that  Princess  to  the  annuUation  of  her 
marriage.  Mornay  asked  her  at  first  merely  for  a  paper 
called  a  procuration,  giving  the  promise  to  declare  in  due 
course  before  the  proper  authorities  that  she  had  never 
given  her  consent  to  her  marriage,  which  had  been 
contracted  with  a  Protestant  without  the  Pope's  dispen- 
sation (although  this  had  been  subsequently  granted),  that 
it  had  also  been  contracted  within  the  degrees  of  affinity 
forbidden  by  the  Church,  and  to  say  that  she  wished  this 
marriage  to  be  declared  null  and  void,  in  order  to  relieve 
her  conscience  of  its  remorse. 

The  Minister  was  in  hopes  that,  with  such  a  paper, 
a  divorce  might  be  arranged  for  his  master  without 
reference  to  the  Pope  being  necessary,  and  that  the 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  tribunals  of  France  would  be 
competent  to  settle  the  matter. 

Although  Marguerite  de  Valois  had  not  the  slightest 
wish  to  remain  the  wife  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  she  could 
not  make  up  her  mind  all  at  once.  She  kept  M.  Erard 
at  Usson  from  April  to  July  1593  before  sending  back 
a  very  submissive  letter  to  the  King  with  the  "  procura- 
tion "  which  had  been  asked  for.  She  was  commencing 
to  wish  for  liberty  to  return  to  Paris,  or,  at  all  events, 
no  longer  to  be  compelled  to  defend  herself  at  Usson. 
Accordingly  she  followed  the  line  of  being  willing  to  do 
that  which  was  for  the  good  of  the  State  by  enabling 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  371 

her  husband  to  marry  again  and  have  legitimate  heirs  to 
the  Crown.  To  Du  Plessis  she  wrote  a  most  friendly 
and  flattering  letter,  asking  him  for  his  good  services 
with  his  master,  especially  in  the  matter  of  the  payment 
of  her  pensions  and  her  debts — concerning  which  vague 
offers  had  been  made  to  her  by  firard. 

This  submissive  action  brought  back  a  reply  from 
Henri  IV.  offering  his  wife  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  crowns  for  her  debts  and  a  yearly  pension  of 
twelve  thousand.  Marguerite  replied,  bargaining  for  two 
thousand  more  crowns  yearly,  and,  as  a  permanent  place 
of  surety  for  herself,  for  Usson. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  delay  before  Usson  was  yielded 
up  ;  but,  by  sticking  to  her  point,  Marguerite  at  length 
was  left  with  the  fortress  in  her  own  hands  absolutely. 

The  League  was  as  yet  only  scotched,  not  killed,  and 
the  head  Leaguers  now  sent  to  Marguerite  an  accredited 
envoy  to  seek  to  renew  their  old  alliance,  while  warning 
the  Queen  not  to  trust  herself  in  any  way  before  any  of 
the  King's  tribunals.  She,  however,  declined  to  listen 
to  the  League,  and  continued  to  correspond  with  Mornay 
on  friendly  terms,  through  Erard,  who  paid  her  a  second 
visit  with  a  new  procuration  to  sign,  a  little  different  from 
the  former  one. 

All  was  going  well  for  the  negotiations  in  1594  when, 
unfortunately,  the  promised  pensions  were  left  unpaid. 
Marguerite  then  wrote  to  the  King  to  complain,  and  he 
replied,  making  the  excuse  that  times  were  very  hard  and 
no  money  was  procurable.  Another  cause  of  complaint 
on  the  part  of  Marguerite  was  that  her  Abbey  of  Saint- 
Corneille  at  Compiegne  was  given  by  him  to  his  mistress, 
Gabrielle  d'Estr^es.  This  matter  was,  however,  arranged, 
as,  while  the  wily  Marguerite  wrote  in  a  friendly  manner 


37^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

concerning  Gabrielle,  whom  she  said  she  was  "  resolved 
to  honour  and  love,"  she  demanded  the  King's  ratification 
of  the  appointment  she  had  already  made,  without 
reference  to  him,  of  her  Chancellor  Bertier  to  the  diocese 
of  Condom.  To  this  her  husband  had  perforce  to  agree, 
but  matters  dragged  and  the  King  did  not  keep  his 
promises  about  other  payments,  again  giving  away 
territories  which  had  been  appointed  to  his  wife  for  her 
satisfaction.  Thus  years  passed  by  until  the  year  1598, 
when,  as  we  have  mentioned,  Marguerite  declined  to 
yield  up  her  place  to  Gabrielle  d'Estrees.  In  this  resolve 
she  was  secretly  applauded  by  Du  Plessis-Mornay  as 
much  as  by  Sully,  and  the  former,  in  consequence, 
endeavoured  to  put  on  the  break  to  the  wheels  of  the 
long-drawn-out  negotiations  instead  of  aiding  the  carriage 
up  the  hill. 

The  original  procurations  were  accordingly  declared 
by  him  to  be  out  of  date,  and  a  new  one  had  to  be 
sent,  which  Marguerite  took  ample  time  before  signing. 
At  length,  in  February  1599,  the  Queen  of  France  and 
Navarre  aflfixed  her  signature  to  this  last-sent  paper ; 
but  the  Pope  now  had  to  be  considered  in  the  matter. 
Clement  VIII.,  although  he  had  received  messages  on 
messages  from  the  impatient  Henri  IV.,  had  with  pleasure 
taken  advantage  of  all  the  delays  caused  by  Marguerite. 
He  did  not  wish  to  allow  the  King  of  France  to  marry 
his  mistress,  and  therefore  he  either  refused  or  wilfully 
delayed  issuing  any  dispensation  whatever  to  facilitate 
a  divorce.  Henri  commenced  to  send  threatening 
messages  by  his  envoys,  Cardinal  d'Ossat  and  Sillery, 
saying  that  he  would  cause  a  divorce,  on  the  grounds 
of  the  Queen's  adultery,  to  be  pronounced  against  her 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  or  by  the  Grand  Almoner. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  373 

To  these  threats,  however,  Clement  VIII.  turned  a 
deaf  ear  ;  and  then  the  unexpected  happened.  Gabrielle 
d'Estrees  died  in  Paris,  after  having  been  at  the  house 
of  Zamet,  the  Moorish  financier,  on  April  loth,  1599. 
She,  during  her  agonies,  gave  birth  to  a  still-born  child, 
but  the  unhappy  woman  died  in  almost  unheard-of  pain, 
with  horrible  contortions,  as  the  result  of  poison.  This 
was  probably  administered  by  Zamet  himself,  in  the 
interests  of  the  Florentine  Grand-Ducal  House  of  Medici, 
from  which  it  was  sought  to  supply  the  King  with  a 
wife,  with  money  and  no  past.  When  we  say  that 
Gabrielle  was  done  away  with  in  the  interests  of 
Florence  it  would  perhaps  be  wise  to  explain  that  there 
were  two  parties  in  France,  one  of  which  was  in  favour 
of  Gabrielle,  the  other  violently  opposed  to  the  idea 
of  the  King  marrying  her,  and  anxious  to  arrange  an 
Italian  match  for  him,  by  which  he  could  secure  a 
large  supply  of  that  money  of  which  he  stood  so  greatly 
in  need.  Zamet,  the  Moor,  had  come  to  France  from 
Italy  ;  he  was  always  in  close  financial  touch  with  the 
ambitious  Grand-Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  undoubtedly 
belonged  to  this  latter  party.  He  was  a  merry  fellow, 
and  the  boon  companion  of  Henri  IV.,  who  frequently 
indulged  in  gambling  parties  in  the  Italian  palazzo  which 
the  Moor  had  constructed  in  Paris.  When  the  King 
lost,  the  Moor  did  not  press  for  payment,  and  even 
lent  the  needy  monarch  money  wherewith  to  continue 
playing  against  himself  or  others,  such  as  that  flashy 
noble,  de  Bassompierre.  A  man  named  Fouquet  la 
Varenne  was  another  courtier  of  suspicious  character, 
in  favour  of  the  Italian  marriage  and  in  close  union  with 
Zamet. 

From  the  kitchen  of  his  sister,  Catherine  de  Bourbon, 


374         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Henri  had  taken  this  able  but  worthless  man,  making 
him  the  agent  and  go-between  in  his  amours,  to  which 
low  employment  the  unscrupulous  La  Varenne  lent 
himself,  greatly  to  his  own  advantage.  As  he  was 
promoted  from  the  kitchen  of  the  Princess  to  the  cabinet 
of  the  King,  this  Fouquet  became  devout,  posed  as  the 
protector  of  the  Jesuits,  and  amassed  great  riches. 

These  Jesuits  had  insisted  upon  Henri  separating 
from  his  mistress  for  a  week  at  the  time  of  the  Easter 
Communion  in  1599,  Rene  Benoit,  the  King's  Confessor, 
having  declared  that  the  King  could  not  receive  the 
Sacrament  while  being  in  open  sin. 

Seeing  the  justice  of  this,  Henri  sent  Gabrielle  back 
from  Fontainebleau  to  Paris.  He  accompanied  his 
mistress  half-way,  to  Melun,  where  she  took  boat  down 
the  Seine  to  Paris.  The  parting  between  the  pair  was 
most  affecting.  It  seemed  to  them  both  as  if  some 
misfortune  hung  over  their  heads.  Gabrielle  was  in  tears, 
the  King  apparently  heart-broken. 

Sully,  whose  sympathies  were  by  no  means  with 
Gabrielle,  describes  this  affecting  parting  almost  in  a 
tone  of  satisfaction. 

"  In  separating  there  took  place  between  them  as 
many  compliments,  mysteries,  and  ceremonies  as  if  they 
had  well  known  that  they  would  never  see  one  another 
again  ;  even  she,  in  parting,  with  tears  in  her  eyes, 
recommending  to  his  care  her  C6sar,  her  Alexandre, 
and  Henriette,  her  buildings  at  Monceaux,  and  her 
poor  servants.  This  so  affected  the  King  that  he  could 
scarcely  tear  himself  from  her  arms.  It  became  even 
necessary  for  the  Marechal  d'Ornano,  and  Messieurs  de 
Roquelaure  and  Frontenac  to  come  and  separate  them, 
and  take  him  back  to  Fontainebleau." 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  375 

La  Varenne  accompanied  Gabrielle  to  Paris,  nominally 
to  protect  her.  He  took  her  to  Zamet's  palace,  where 
she  was  visited  by,  that  false  Princess  and  false  friend, 
Louise  Marguerite  de  Lorraine,  commonly  known  as 
Mademoiselle  de  Guise. 

Sully  also  paid  a  visiie  de  ceremonie  to  the  poor 
woman,  whose  heart  was  oppressed  and  eyes  heavy  from 
weeping.  Gabrielle  made  then  a  last  effort  to  regain 
Sully's  good  graces,  exerting  herself  to  the  utmost  to 
cajole  and  flatter  the  all-powerful  Minister.  He,  however, 
held  himself  coldly  on  his  guard,  and  when  asked  for  his 
confidence  merely  replied  with  "  many  civilities,  sub- 
missions, and  thanks."  His  wife  and  he  were  about 
to  leave  Paris  for  Easter,  and  the  Due  sent  his  wife 
accordingly,  who  was  as  narrow-minded  as  himself,  to 
take  leave  of  the  Duchesse  de  Beaufort. 

In  their  interview  Gabrielle  contrived  awkwardly  to 
hurt  the  susceptibilities  of  this  vain  woman.  Speaking 
as  if  she  were  about  to  become  Queen,  and  thinking  to 
flatter  the  Duchesse  de  Sully,  Gabrielle  informed  her  that 
she  "  would  always  be  pleased  to  see  her  at  her  *  levers 
and  her  couchers.' "  Sully's  wife  retired  inwardly 
raging,  and  rejoined  her  husband  to  go  off  to  Rosny, 
while  waiting,  according  to  Sully,  "  until  the  cord  should 
break." 

After  a  particularly  recherchS  d\nntx  served  to  Gabrielle 
by  TL-acocioX.  on  the  following  day,  Gabrielle  went  to  Mass, 
accompanied  by  Mademoiselle  de  Guise.  She  returned 
before  the  end  of  the  service  to  Zamet's  house,  feeling  ill, 
and  had  to  be  carried  to  her  bed  senseless.  The  most 
agonising  crises  followed  this  fainting  fit,  convulsions  and 
contortions  succeeding  each  other  in  rapid  succession. 

Determined  to  leave  Zamet's  house  at  all  costs,   in 


37^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

a  lucid  interval  the  miserable  Gabrielle  insisted  upon 
La  Varenne  removing  her  to  the  lodging  of  her  aunt, 
Madame  de  Sourdis,  who  was  absent.  She  was  never, 
however,  allowed  to  see  the  King,  to  whom  she  contrived 
to  send  a  note.  The  scoundrelly  La  Varenne  wrote 
stating  falsely  to  Henri  that  she  was  dead,  while  she  was 
still  alive,  and  therefore  the  King  did  not  come. 

By  this  means  the  fellow-poisoner  of  Zamet  prevented 
Henri  from  learning  from  her  own  lips  what  she 
knew  and  would  tell  him  ;  averted  also,  in  this  manner, 
his  probable  vengeance.  The  excuse  which  he  gave 
afterwards  for  his  conduct  was  that  the  unfortunate 
Gabrielle  was  so  terribly  changed  in  appearance  that  he 
feared  lest  the  King,  having  seen  her,  should  "  be  dis- 
gusted with  her  for  ever  after,  in  case  she  should  ever 
recover  !  " 

La  Varenne,  at  the  same  time,  took  care  that  the 
doctors  should  give  her  no  proper  remedies.  In  his 
letter  to  Henri  he  said  that,  on  account  of  her  condition 
of  being  enceinte,  the  physicians  were  unable  to  administer 
the  necessary  medicines.  Thus  it  happened  that  this 
unhappy  woman,  who  had  been  so  great  and  who  was 
considered  so  near  a  throne  that  her  Royal  robes  had 
been  already  made,  died  miserably,  alone  and  apparently 
deserted,  after  more  than  forty-eight  hours  of  the  most 
intense  agony,  during  which  no  efforts  were  even  made 
to  save  her  life. 

It  was  in  the  arms  of  the  traitor,  La  Varenne,  that 
her  tortures  ended  on  April  loth,  1599.  No  priest  even 
had  been  brought  to  her  bedside  to  offer  her  the  last 
consolations  of  religion,  while,  such  had  been  the  result 
of  her  paroxysms,  that,  according  to  Lestoille  and  others, 
"  her  mouth  was  twisted  right  round  to  the  back  of  her 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  377 

neck,  and  she  became  so  hideous  that  one  could  scarcely 
look  upon  her  !  " 

And  yet,  strange  to  say,  there  are  still  to  be  found 
writers  who  calmly  state  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  ascribe  the 
death  of  Gabrielle  to  poison,  that  it  was  merely  the  result 
of  a  fausse-couche ! 

From  the  first  the  greatest  pains  were  taken  to 
represent  the  death  of  Gabrielle  as  due  to  natural  causes, 
but  none  believed  this.  Although  Henri  IV.  was  thunder- 
struck, and  apparently  almost  heart-broken,  upon  the 
news  of  the  death  of  his  dear  mistress,  no  inquiry 
was  ever  instituted  into  the  cause  of  her  decease. 
This  fact  may,  perhaps,  have  been  the  result  of  the 
advice  of  Sully  to  the  King,  to  let  sleeping  dogs  lie, 
and  not  to  probe  too  deeply  into  the  mystery,  lest  he 
should  discover  more  than  he  wished  to  know  con- 
cerning those  who  were  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

A  messenger  had  been  sent  by  the  King  instantly  to 
summon  Sully  from  Rosny.  This  man,  who  was  the 
same  who  had  been  sent  by  La  Varenne  to  Henri,  arrived 
before  Sully  and  his  wife  had  had  their  breakfast.  How 
delighted  they  were  !  The  messenger  was  well  enter- 
tained, while  the  Due,  running  off  to  his  wife  in  her 
bed,  embraced  her  gleefully  and  exclaimed,  "  My  girl, 
plenty  of  news  !  You  will  not  have  to  go  to  the  lever 
or  the  coucher  of  the  Duchesse,  for  the  cord  has  broken. 
But,  since  she  is  really  dead,  may  God  give  her  a  good 
life  and  a  long  one  !  " 

Henri  IV.  went  into  black  mourning  for  a  week,  then 
into  violet  mourning  for  three  months.  The  Parliament 
of  Paris  and  the  foreign  Ambassadors  tendered  their  con- 
dolences to  the  King  upon  the  loss  of  his  mistress.  His 
sister  Catherine — now   become  Duchesse  de  Bar — wrote 


37 8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

him  also  a  most  affectionate  letter,  offering  to  act  in 
the  light  of  mother  to  her  nephews  and  niece,  the  children 
of  Gabrielle.  To  this  letter  Henri  replied,  "  The  root 
of  my  love  is  dead  ;  never  will  it  spring  again  !  " 

Within  a  month  or  two  this  most  wonderful  root  of 
love  had  nevertheless  sprung  again  stronger  than  ever  ! 
Indeed,  according  to  both  Bassompierre  and  the  Princesse 
de  Conti,  it  wfas  only  three  weeks  after  the  death  of 
Gabrielle  d'Estr^es  when  it  had  grown  into  a  vigorous 
tree,  in  whose  shadow  reposed  the  petulant  figure  of 
Henriette  d'Entragues.  Sully,  after  quoting  a  few 
psalms  to  his  master,  lost  but  little  time  in  pointing 
out  to  him  that  he  should  take  advantage  of  the  kind- 
ness vouchsafed  to  him  by  Providence  in  helping  him  out 
of  a  bad  situation.  Now,  said  the  matter-of-fact  Minister 
of  Finances,  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  The  King  should 
at  once  put  an  end  to  the  uncertainties  of  the  nation  by 
contracting  a  respectable  marriage. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

The  Home  "Coming  of  Marguerite 

1605 

With  Gabrielle  safely  out  of  the  way,  and  peacefully 
at  rest  underground,  Sully  and  Du  Plessis-Mornay 
commenced  to  hurry  up  the  negotiations  with  the  Queen 
of  Navarre.  It  was  realised,  if  only  she  would  now  lend 
her  own  honest  aid  in  severing  the  bonds  which  united 
her  to  the  King  of  France,  that  there  would  be  little 
further  difficulty  on  the  side  of  the  Pope. 

Sully  wrote,  therefore,  to  beg  Marguerite  to  listen 
to  those  who  could  show  her  the  way  to  obtain  true 
happiness  ;  and  to  him  she  responded  most  cordially. 
Calling  him  *'  My  Cousin,"  Marguerite  replied  that  she 
desired  the  happiness  of  the  King  and  the  good  of  France 
as  much  as  he  did,  and  that  her  ardent  wish  was  to  see 
Henri  with  legitimate  heirs  to  his  Crown.  She  added, 
"  If  up  till  now  I  have  used  delays  and  interposed 
doubts  and  difficulties,  you,  better  than  any  one,  know 
the  reason — not  wishing  to  see  in  my  place  that  disreput- 
able slut."  She  ended  her  letter  by  saying  that  she 
would  accommodate  herself  to  anything  reasonable,  and 
take  Sully's  advice  on  the  matter. 

The  procurations  she  had  previously  signed  amounted 
to   nothing ;    they  had  no  legal  binding  whatever,   and 

379  23 


380         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

there  had  been  nothing  to  prevent  the  Queen  from 
changing  her  mind.  Being,  indeed,  strongly  imbued 
with  all  the  pride  of  the  blood  of  the  Valois,  it  had 
been  quite  on  the  cards  that,  rather  than  see  her  place 
on  the  throne  taken  by  one  whom  she  called  a  *'  dis- 
reputable slut,"  Marguerite  would  have  continued  con- 
stantly to  raise  fresh  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  divorce. 
But,  as  remarks  Tallemant  des  R6aux,  "  she  was  very 
supple,  and  knew  how  to  accommodate  herself  to  the 
times."  Thus,  when  Gabrielle  had  been  all-powerful, 
the  Queen  of  Navarre  had  paid  her  her  Court,  and  even 
acquiesced  in  her  Abbeys  and  Duchies  being  given  to  the 
mistress  who  openly  spoke  in  the  most  slighting  manner 
of  her  to  the  King.  Beyond  a  certain  length,  however, 
she  refused  to  go.  Now  times  had  changed,  and 
Marguerite  therefore  appointed  on  her  behalf  two 
procurators,  to  request  the  King  to  allow  her  to  sue 
the  Pope  and  all  other  ecclesiastical  authorities  for  a 
declaration  of  the  nullity  of  their  union. 

Henri  was  naturally  delighted  to  see  his  wife  become 
so  pliant.  Rome  was  communicated  with  at  once,  and 
Clement  VIII.,  now  no  longer  obstructive,  delegated 
various  Cardinals  to  act  in  his  name  and  examine  the 
affair. 

The  King  was  at  once  put  under  examination  upon 
twenty-two  separate  heads,  after  which  the  Pope's  dele- 
gates were  about  to  proceed  to  Usson  to  examine  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  in  turn.  This,  however,  was  an 
ordeal  which  Marguerite  wrote  that  she  felt  herself 
unable  to  face.  While  being  willing  to  give  all  the 
assistance  in  her  power,  she  begged  humbly  to  be  spared 
the  humiliation  of  having  to  give  personal  evidence. 
Should  she  be   compelled   to   be   heard   in   person,   by 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  381 

people  who  might  not  be  all  of  the  same  opinion  as 
herself,  she  wrote  that  she  feared  that  she  would  *'  become 
confused  with  so  great  a  displeasure  as  to  defeat  the  object 
in  view. 

"  I  know  well  that  I  could  not  stand  it,  and  fear 
that  my  tears  would  cause  those  Cardinals  to  think  that 
force  had  been  put  upon  me,  or  a  constraint  which 
would  spoil  the  effect  which  the  King  wished  to  be 
produced." 

The  Queen  begged,  therefore,  that  the  Archdeacon 
Bertier,  the  same  to  whom  she  had  given  the  Bishopric 
of  Condom,  should  be  sent  to  her,  to  represent  the  Pope's 
delegates,  and  take  her  evidence  on  Commission. 

Henri  IV.  was  man  enough  to  respect  the  delicacy 
felt  by  his  wife  in  the  matter  of  giving  the  evidence 
which  was  to  deprive  her  of  her  Crown  and  right  to  the 
title  of  Queen  of  France.  Bertier  was  therefore  sent  to 
her,  to  represent  the  Cardinals,  and  to  him  Marguerite 
made  the  following  statement  : 

"  Never  had  I  the  wish  for  this  marriage  in  my  heart. 
I  was  forced  to  it  by  the  King,  Charles  IX.,  and  the 
Queen,  my  mother.  I  implored  them  with  hot  tears, 
but  the  King  menaced  me  that,  unless  I  gave  my  consent, 
I  should  be  made  the  most  unfortunate  creature  in  the 
Kingdom.  Notwithstanding  that  I  had  no  affection  for 
the  King  of  Navarre,  and  said  repeatedly  that  I  desired 
to  wed  another  Prince  [Guise],  I  had  to  obey." 

To  this,  in  order  to  impress  the  Cardinals,  other 
remarks  were  added,  commenting  upon  the  unhappy 
state  of  conjugal  life  led  between  her  husband  and  herself 
before  the  time  of  his  flight  from  the  Court  in  1575.  At 
this  period,  which  was  that  during  which  Henri  was 
carrying  on  his  amour  with  Madame  de  Sauve,  Marguerite 


3^2         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

asserted  that  she  and  her  husband  h^d  not  lived  maritale- 
ment  together. 

The  King  lost  no  time  in  sending  the  Comte  de 
Beaumont  to  return  his  thanks  to  Marguerite  de  Valois. 
*'  I  will  not  cherish  you  or  love  you  less,"  said  Henri ; 
'*and  in  all  that  concerns  you  I  will  make  you  see  that 
I  will  not  be  a  brother  to  you  in  name  only,  but  in  fact." 

The  Comte  de  Beaumont  personally  assured  the 
Queen  of  all  the  advantages  that  she  would  derive  from 
the  King  for  her  willing  connivance  with  himself  in  the 
matter  of  obtaining  the  divorce.  The  King  confirmed 
to  his  wife  the  titles  of  Queen  and  Duchesse  de  Valois  ; 
all  of  her  domains  were  also  assured  to  her  and  her 
successors  ;  the  King,  however,  reserved  their  Sovereignty 
to  himself,  with  the  right  of  repurchase.  In  addition, 
the  King  soon  sent  a  large  sum  for  the  payment  of  his 
wife's  debts,  promised  more,  and  accompanied  his  gift 
with  a  most  affectionate  letter. 

Never,  indeed,  were  husband  and  wife  upon  such 
excellent  terms  as  when  they  became  husband  and 
wife  no  longer. 

In  the  middle  of  November  1599  the  Cardinals, 
acting  on  behalf  of  the  Pope,  declared  the  marriage  null 
and  void  ;  a  month  later  the  dissolution  was  declared 
by  them,  and  on  December  22  nd  this  dissolution  was 
registered  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris  and  openly 
announced  in  the  church  of  Saint-Germain-rAuxerrois, 
in  the  parish  of  which  the  Louvre  was  situated. 

Thus,  after  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years,  during 
which  neither  husband  nor  wife  had  behaved  with  even 
common  decency,  was  terminated  the  ill-fated  union 
which  had  commenced  with  all  the  horrors  of  the 
Massacre  of  Saint-Bartholomew. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  3^3 

Marguerite,  now  between  forty-six  and  forty- seven 
years  of  age,  remained  at  Usson,  and  continued  to  lose 
her  good  looks  and  to  grow  fat.  In  no  manner,  how- 
ever, did  she  alter  the  life  that  she  had  been  leading, 
which  was  a  combination  of  bigotry  and  debauchery. 
Among  the  numerous  lovers  upon  whom  the  Queen 
showered  her  favours  during  her  residence  at  Usson,  the 
name  of  one  has  been  retained  by  all  the  chroniclers 
of  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  on  account  of  her  absurd 
jealousy.  This  was  a  handsome  young  man  named 
Claude  Francois,  the  son  of  a  master  charcoal-burner, 
who  was  a  chorister  in  the  cathedral  of  Puy,  where  he 
instructed  the  boy-singers.  On  account  of  his  beautiful 
voice  Claude  Fran9ois  went  to  Usson  to  display  his 
accomplishments  before  the  Queen.  So  lovely  did 
Marguerite  find  his  notes  that  she  commanded  him  to 
remain.  She  gave  him  an  estate  called  Pominy,  by 
which  name  he  was  thenceforth  known,  and  made  him 
her  secretary.  Fearing  lest  the  charms  of  the  young 
Pominy  might  perchance  bewitch  some  of  her  followers, 
in  the  same  manner  as  they  had  herself,  the  Queen  now, 
according  to  Jean  Burel,  caused  all  of  the  beds  of  her 
ladies  to  be  placed  upon  legs  so  high  that,  without 
stooping,  she  could  see  if  he  should  happen  to  be  con- 
cealed beneath  them. 

For  this  talented  musician  and  composer  Marguerite 
was  in  the  habit  of  composing  poems,  which  he  set  to 
music.  At  last  she  determined  to  reward  Pominy  for 
his  services  with  a  young  and  noble  wife,  and  Michelette 
de  Fangiere,  one  of  her  ladies  of  honour,  was  selected 
for  the  purpose.  Unfortunately,  before  the  wedding 
could  take  place,  Pominy,  who  had  injured  his  lungs  by 
too  much  singing,  died  of  pulmonary  disease,  whereupon 


3^4         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  Queen  remained  inconsolable.  That  is  to  say,  she 
was  inconsolable  after  the  fashion  of  Henri  de  Navarre, 
until  she  found  a  successor  to  the  unfortunate  Pominy. 
Into  the  career  of  this  successor,  and  various  others, 
at  Usson,  we  will  not  go,  for  the  day  had  gone  by  when 
the  last  Princess  of  the  Valois  honoured  merely  Princes 
or  great  nobles  with  her  regard.  She  had  fallen  so  low 
that  any  page  or  youthful  squire,  provided  he  were  but 
handsome,  might  with  impunity  aspire  to  the  good  graces 
of  one  who  was,  but  in  name  only.  Queen  of  France 
and  Navarre. 

For  five  years  longer  Marguerite  remained  at  Usson. 
During  these  years  her  career  was  merely  chequered  by 
occasional  disputes  with  the  officials,  who  failed  to  remit 
the  money  for  the  payment  of  her  debts,  and  by  law- 
suits with  her  illegitimate  nephew,  Charles  de  Valois, 
Comte  d'Auvergne,  the  son  of  Charles  IX.  and  Marie 
Touchet. 

Both  of  these  matters  required  constant  reference  to 
Sully  and  to  Henri  IV.,  but  whereas  where  the  money 
matters  were  concerned  Marguerite  contrived  to  get  her 
own  way,  she  had  far  more  trouble  with  the  Comte 
d'Auvergne,  in  whose  favour  she  had  been  disinherited 
by  Catherine  de  Mddicis  of  various  strong  places,  at  the 
instances  of  her  spiteful  brother,  Henri  III. 

To  go  into  the  quarrels  of  Marguerite  with  her 
insolent  nephew,  who  became  Due  d'Angouleme,  would 
take  too  long.  She  contrived,  however,  to  assist  in  the 
exposure  of  various  plots  against  the  King,  in  which 
he  was  engaged  with  the  rebel  Dues  de  Biron  and  dc 
Bouillon.  He  was  the  half-brother  of  the  King's  new 
paramour,  Henriette  d'Entragues,  a  relative  of  Mar- 
guerite's early  lover,  Charles  de  Balzac  d'Entragues,  or 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  385 

Bide,  having  married  Marie  Touchet.  After  undergoing 
one  term  of  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille,  the  information 
supplied  by  Marguerite  to  the  King  was  partly  the  cause 
of  Charles  de  Valois  paying  for  his  treasonable  designs 
against  Henri  by  a  further  detention  of  eleven  years  in 
that  gloomy  fortress. 

Owing  to  the  good  offices  rendered  to  him  by  his 
former  wife,  whose  skill  and  acumen  in  finding  out  the 
plots  of  conspirators,  which  she  revealed  to  the  King, 
were  remarkable,  Henri  eventually  put  no  obstructions  in 
her  way  when  she  determined  to  return  to  Paris.  When 
she  did  so,  at  length,  in  the  year  1605,  Marguerite  was 
received  with  the  highest  honours,  not  only  by  Henri  IV., 
but  by  his  new  wife,  Marie  de  Medicis,  whom  he  had 
married  in  the  year  succeeding  his  divorce. 

The  only  action  on  the  part  of  Henri  de  Navarre 
which  met  with  considerable  criticism,  as  showing  a 
considerable  want  of  good  taste,  was  a  foolish  gasconade. 
It  concerned  his  selection  of  the  person  whom  he  first 
sent  to  greet,  and,  as  his  own  representative,  to  do  honour 
to  Marguerite  as  she  approached  Paris. 

As  she  descended  from  her  coach,  at  her  residence 
outside  Paris,  called  the  Chateau  de  Madrid,  the  gentle- 
man who  was  there  waiting  to  offer  her  his  hand  to  alight 
was  no  other  than  one  who  had  formerly  been  far  too  much 
to  the  Queen  of  Navarre.  Bowing  low  before  her,  with 
all  ceremonious  greeting,  Marguerite  beheld  her  once 
adored  lover,  Harlay  de  Champvallon.  After  having  held 
a  very  high  post  in  the  army  of  the  League,  when  the 
League  was  reduced  Henri  IV.  had  taken  his  wife's  former 
favourite  into  his  service,  treated  him  with  high  honours, 
and  created  him  a  Knight  of  his  own  Order.  With  a 
touch  of  his  old  malice,  he  had  imagined  that  it  would 


386         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

be  a  capital  joke  to  send  Champvallon  to  welcome  his 
former  Royal  mistress  back  to  Paris,  where  it  was  now 
over  twenty  years  since  she  had  become  the  mother 
of  his  son. 

Marguerite,  if  she  felt  that  a  jocular  insult  had  been 
intended,  was  far  too  wise  to  appear  to  notice  it,  especially 
as  Henri's  son  by  Gabrielle,  the  young  Due  de  Vendome, 
accompanied  by  various  other  great  nobles,  was  waiting 
behind  Champvallon  to  do  her  honour.  There  were  like- 
wise various  officers  of  the  household  of  Queen  Marie 
de  Medicis  in  attendance,  to  convey  the  congratulations 
of  the  Queen  that  was  to  the  Queen  that  had  been  upon 
the  occasion  of  her  return. 

The  King  himself  had  sent  word  that  he  hoped  to 
wait  very  shortly  in  person  upon  the  Queen  Marguerite, 
and  he  arrived  at  Madrid  punctually  upon  July  26th, 
1605.  Then,  for  the  space  of  three  hours,  the  former 
married  couple  remained  in  close  and  intimate  conversa- 
tion. How  much  they  must  have  had  to  talk  over 
together  that  did  not  in  the  least  concern  the  recent 
rebellion  in  Auvergne,  of  which  Marguerite  had  given 
warning  ! 

We  are  assured  that  the  King  particularly  begged  two 
things  of  his  former  wife.  These  were  that,  for  her 
health's  sake,  she  would  not  sit  up  so  late  as  formerly ; 
while,  for  the  good  of  her  pocket,  she  should  restrain 
herself  from  her  accustomed  hberalities.  The  Queen 
laughed  and  said  that  she  would  do  her  best,  but  that 
generosity  was  in  the  blood  of  the  Valois.  A  day  or 
two  later  the  little  Dauphin  was  sent  to  visit  Marguerite, 
and  in  the  middle  of  August  she  was  received  in  great 
§tate  by  Marie  de  Medicis  and  the  King  at  the  Louvre. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII 

Henri  and  Henriette 

1599 — 1601 

When  Charles  IX.  died  in  the  year  1574,  at  the  early- 
age  of  twenty-four,  he  left  behind  him  two  women  whom 
he  had  treated  very  differently,  to  mourn  his  loss.  The 
first  of  these  was  his  Queen,  Elizabeth  of  Austria,  said  to 
have  been  one  of  the  best  women  in  the  world.  This 
Princess  had  no  children,  and  died  at  the  Monastery  of 
Saint-Claire,  in  Vienna,  eighteen  years  later,  without 
marrying  again,  although  Philip  II.  had  sought  her  for 
his  fifth  wife. 

The  second  was  his  mistress,  Marie  Touchet,  a 
woman  whom  Charles  had  dearly  loved.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  one  of  his  Councillors  named  Jean  Touchet, 
and  by  her  Charles  IX.  had  two  sons,  the  elder  of  whom 
died  young,  while  the  latter  lived  to  become  a  thorn  in 
the  side  of  Henri  IV.,  first  as  Comte  d'Auvergne  and 
then  Comte  de  Poitiers  and  Due  d'Angouleme. 

Marie  Touchet  is  supposed  to  have  been  introduced 
to  her  Royal  lover  by  Fran9ois  de  Balzac,  Seigneur 
d'Entragues,  de  Marcoussi,  and  of  the  Forest  of 
Malesherbes.  He  was  a  Councillor  of  State,  a  captain 
of  fifty  of  the  King's  men-at-arms.  Governor  of  Orleans, 
and  a  Knight  of  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost,     Thus 

387 


388         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

the  highest  Order  in  the  Kingdom  of  France  had  been 
founded  by  Henri  III.  in  honour  of  his  sister  Marguerite, 
before  Du  Guast  had  succeeded  in  ahenating  him  from 
his  sister,  and  the  colours  of  the  Order  were  those  borne 
by  the  Queen  of  Navarre. 

Thej  Marquis  d'Entragues,  who,  in  addition  to  his 
above-mentioned  honours,  was  also  the  Lieutenant- 
General  de  I'Orleanais,  was,  as  has  been  seen,  a  very 
great  noble  indeed.  He  did  not,  however,  consider 
himself  disgraced  by  taking  as  his  wife  one  who  was 
the  daughter  of  an  illegitimate  mother,  in  the  person 
of  Marie  Touchet,  the  ex-mistress  of  Charles  IX.  She 
was  his  second  wife,  his  first  spouse  having  belonged  to 
the  ancient  family  of  Rohan,  and  by  Marie  he  had  two 
daughters.  The  elder  of  these  was  Henriette  de  Balzac, 
or  d'Entragues,  who  was  fated  to  become  the  mistress  of 
Henri  IV.  The  second  was  Marie  de  Balzac,  who  became 
openly  and  scandalously  the  mistress  of  that  gambling 
boon  companion  of  the  Bearnais,  the  Marechal  de 
Bassompierre. 

The  fact  that  both  of  her  daughters  should  have 
departed  from  the  paths  of  prudence  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  the  fault  of  Marie  Touchet,  since  the  seduction 
of  each  of  them  was  accomplished  by  means  of  a  promise 
of  marriage.  However,  in  the  case  of  Henriette,  the  elder, 
this  promise  was  merely  an  afterthought,  on  the  part  of  the 
girl  herself  and  her  father,  when  a  large  sum  had  already 
been  agreed  upon  as  the  price  of  her  innocence.  Marie 
Touchet,  once  she  had  become  Marquise  d'Entragues, 
had  developed  very  strict  views  on  the  subject  of  morality  ; 
so  strict,  indeed,  that  she  did  not  flinch  from  murder — 
which,  of  course,  went  unpunished.  When  she  found 
that  a  page  was  indulging  in  a  little  familiarity  with  one 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  389 

of  the  girls  the  virtuous  mistress  of  Charles  IX.  took  a 
dagger  and  stabbed  the  unfortunate  youth  to  the  heart. 

This  murder  does  not  seem  in  the  least  to  have 
affected  the  reputation  of  Marie  Touchet ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  enhanced  it.  She  is  spoken  of  as  having  been  a 
lady  of  a  most  refined  nature  and  of  literary  tastes,  her 
favourite  author  being  Plutarch.  She  was  very  ambitious, 
although  of  Flemish  origin,  and  not  herself  noble,  on 
account  of  being  the  mother  of  the  boy  who,  although 
he  had  been  legitimatised,  was  commonly  known  as  the 
Bastard  of  Valois.  Accordingly,  her  views  were  very  high 
for  both  her  daughters,  but  the  "  incomparable  Marie " 
died  too  soon  to  see  how  utterly  her  views  had  miscarried. 

Of  Henriette,  the  elder  daughter  of  Fran9ois  de 
Balz,ac,  it  is  said  that  she  was  "  a  living  flame,  bold,  with 
a  keen  tongue,  with  ready  replies  which  would  put  all  the 
doctors  to  shame."  Not  given  to  the  study  of  history, 
she  was  cunning  and  disputatious,  theology  being  her 
favourite  subject.  She  was  subtle  and  dangerous,  lightly 
built  in  frame  and  light  in  her  manners  and  conversation. 
Lively  and  pretty  she  was,  but  in  every  respect  a  com- 
plete contrast,  whether  in  bearing  or  conversation,  to 
the  easy,  good-natured,  handsome,  and  latterly  somewhat 
stout  Gabrielle  d'Estrees. 

Always  ready  with  her  tongue,  mocking  and  laughter- 
loving,  her  sole  efforts  seemed  to  be  devoted  to  making 
fun  of  others  in  an  attractive  but  malicious  manner. 
She  spared  none,  least  of  all  the  middle-aged  Henri  de 
Navarre,  King  of  France,  when  he  had  been  foolish 
enough  to  surrender  himself  completely  into  her  thrall. 

Henriette  d'Entragues  may  be  described  as  a  woman 
who  was  already  blasee  before  she  had  lived  ;  she  was 
absolutely  wanting  in  refinement,  delighted  in  telling  and 


39*^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

listening  to  stories  which  would  have  made  many  a 
courtier  blush,  and  one  who,  by  her  very  abandon,  which 
was  piquani  and  amusing,  was  calculated  to  appeal  to 
the  worst  instincts  in  man.  She  likewise  set  a  high  price 
upon  her  own  charms,  and,  having  all  the  instincts  of 
the  courtesan,  had  fully  determined  not  to  surrender 
them  without  a  very  large  payment  in  cash. 

To  the  society  of  this  adorable  creature  Henri  IV. 
was  introduced  by  his  pander  La  Varenne,  a  month  or 
two  after  the  death  of  the  Gabrielle  with  whom  he  had 
declared  that  his  heart  had  descended  into  the  tomb. 
She  had  already  been  lauded  to  the  King  as  being 
one  full  of  beaut es,  gentil.  esprit^  cajoleries^  et  bons 
mots,  until,  although  he  had  previously  had  a  bad 
opinion  of  the  Entragues  family,  his  curiosity  had 
become  aroused.  He  saw  her,  saw  her  again,  and, 
his  own  gross  nature  being  amused  with  her  loose  and 
clever  way  of  talking,  his  senses  became  engaged.  It 
was  more  owing  to  the  tongue  of  her  whom  Sully  calls 
ce  bee  affiU,  than  to  her  looks  that  Henri,  greatly  to 
the  disgust  of  his  grave  Minister,  declared  that  he  must 
make  his,  at  no  matter  what  cost,  this  cunning  woman 
who,  already  at  the  age  of  twenty,  had  the  worm  of 
rottenness  and  corruption  eating  into  her  vitals. 

Sully,  in  his  Memoires,  shows  how  he  hated  Henriette 
from  the  first.  He  calls  her  a  baquenaut  on  various 
occasions,  on  others  says  she  is  "  a  minx,  a  vicious  wasp, 
a  shrew,  an  impertinent  woman,  and  a  cunning  female." 
And  surely,  if  ever  man  were  placed  in  a  position  to 
judge  of  her  proper  character  it  was  the  Lord  of  Rosny, 
years  of  whose  life  were  devoted  to  attempting  to  patch 
up  the  quarrels  in  which  she  involved  the  foolish  King. 
For  underneath  her  velvet  paws  Henriette,  tiger-cat  that 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  39 ^ 

she  was,  had  claws  of  iron  ;  and  well  she  showed  that 
she  knew  how  to  use  them  to  rend  the  man  who  became 
her  slave,  even,  in  the  end,  to  the  extent,  in  combination 
with  Queen  Marie  de  Medicis,  of  procuring  his  assassi- 
nation. 

No  sooner  had  Henri  IV.  seen  Henriette  d'Entragues 
a  time  or  two  than  he  realised  that  here  was  no  young 
lady  who  was  ready,  as  so  many  before  her,  to  fall  into 
his  arms  for  love  of  himself,  admiration  of  his  exalted 
rank  and  glorious  reputation,  but  that,  although  prepared 
to  yield  to  his  desires,  it  would  be  on  a  strictly  cash 
basis.  He  accordingly  commenced  negotiations  at  once, 
both  with  the  charming  ingenue  herself  and  with  her 
estimable  father,  to  whom  Henriette  referred  the  King. 

In  the  very  first  letter  from  Henri  to  Mademoiselle 
d'Entragues  we  find  him  writing  :  "  Mes  chores  AmourSy" 
— this,  by  the  way,  is  a  very  usual  mode  for  Henri  de 
Navarre  to  employ  in  commencing  his  letters  to  women. 
"  Mes  chhes  Amours^  La  Varenne  and  the  lackey  arrived 
together.  You  command  me  to  overcome  all  the  diffi- 
culties thrown  in  the  way  of  our  contentment.  By  the 
propositions  that  1  have  made,  I  have  shown  sufficiently 
the  force  of  my  love  ;  it  is  from  your  side  that  there  is 
more  difficulty.  What  I  have  said  in  your  presence,  that 
will  I  do  without  fail — but  nothing  more.  I  shall  have 
great  pleasure  in  seeing  Monsieur  d'Entragues,  -and  will 
hardly  leave  him  any  rest  until  our  business  is  either 
made  or  marred."  This  letter  is  ended  affectionately 
enough,  in  all  conscience,  for  a  first  epistle :  "  Good-night, 
heart  of  mine.     I  kiss  you  a  million  times." 

The  bargain  had  already  been  made  before  October  ist, 
1599,  that  Henri  was  to  pay  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  golden  crowns  as   the  price   of  the  favours  of 


392         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Mademoiselle  d'Entragues,  when  Henri's  impatience  for 
the  fulfilment  by  her  of  her  side  of  the  bargain  received 
a  check.  For  it  was  intimated  to  him  that,  in  addition 
to  the  money,  a  title  and  an  estate  would  be  required, 
and,  likewise,  a  promise  of  marriage,  to  be  fulfilled 
should  certain  events  occur. 

Sully  was  already  making  arrangements  to  marry 
Henri  to  the  Princess  Marie  de  M6dicis,  whose  money 
the  Minister  very  greatly  desired  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  out  a  very  necessary  war  with  Savoy.  The 
promised  sum  of  six  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  dowry 
he  was  calculating  upon  handling  in  advance,  and  feeling 
very  thankful  to  think  that  his  new  artillery  would  be 
paid  for,  when  the  King  marched  into  his  apartment,  at 
Fontainebleau,  with  a  paper  in  his  hand.  This,  in  rather 
a  shamefaced  way,  he  handed  to  Sully  to  read,  while 
asking  his  Minister's  advice. 

Sully  winced  when  he  perused  the  document,  which 
he  found  to  be  a  promise  to  marry  Henriette  d'Entragues. 
He  hummed  and  hawed,  turned  the  paper  over,  said  it 
was  an  important  matter,  and  would  need  consideration. 

"  But,"  exclaimed  the  impatient  Henri,  "  your 
advice  !  your  real  advice." 

*'  May  I  give  it,  Sire,  and  will  you  not  be  angry  ? " 

"  Give  it,  by  all  means,  otherwise — Ventre  saint-gris  I 
why  do  you  think  I  ask  for  it  .'* " 

"  This,  then,  is  my  advice  !  "  And  then  the  intrepid 
Minister  tore  the  paper  across,  and  across  again. 

*'  Are  you  mad  ?  "  exclaimed  the  King  angrily. 

"  Sire,  I  am  a  madman  and  an  idiot,  but  I  only  wish 
that  I  could  be  so  much  of  a  crazy  being  as  to  be  the 
only  madman  in  France !  " 

The   Minister   had    much   more   to  say,   notably  to 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  393 

remind  his  master  of  the  fact  that  Queen  Marguerite  had 
refused  to  resign  her  rights  in  favour  of  a  woman  like 
Gabrielle  d'Estrdes,  and  would  most  certainly  prove 
equally  obstinate  where  an  Henriette  d'Entragues  was 
concerned.  Nor,  he  added,  would  the  Pope  consent  to 
assist  such  an  union  by  granting  a  divorce. 

Without  arguing  the  matter,  Henri  went  down  to 
his  cabinet.  There  he  called  for  his  secretary,  wrote  out 
a  new  promise  of  marriage,  and  rode  off  with  it  to  the 
Chateau  de  Malesherbes,  on  pretence  of  going  upon  a 
hunting  expedition  in  that  direction.  He  stayed  away 
two  whole  days  ;  and  from  that  time  must  be  dated  the 
commencement  of  that  ill-fated  liaison  between  Henri  de 
Navarre  and  the  daughter  of  Marie  Touchet.  Upon  his 
return  the  King  caused  a  patent  of  nobility  to  be  made 
out  for  his  new  mistress,  under  the  title  of  Marquise  de 
Verneuil. 

Sully  took  his  revenge  upon  the  King  by  bringing 
him  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  all  in 
silver  pieces.  With  a  malicious  pleasure,  the  Minister 
caused  this  immense  amount  of  coin  to  be  spread  out  and 
counted  upon  the  floor  of  the  King's  cabinet. 

When  Henri  saw  the  carpet  entirely  covered  with 
little  piles  of  silver  he  looked  wistfully  at  the  mon^y  and 
made  a  grimace. 

*'  Ventre  saint-gris  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  that's  a  pleasure 
dearly  paid  for." 

*' Yes,"  replied  Sully  drily,  "the  merchandise  is  cer- 
tainly a  bit  dear." 

It  was,  however,  the  promise  of  marriage  which 
Henri  IV.  was  to  find  the  dearest  part  of  the  bargain,  for 
during  the  rest  of  his  life  Henriette  d'Entragues  noisily 
claimed,  owing  to  its  existence,  that  she,  and  not  Marie 


394         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

de  M^dicis,  should  be  considered  as  the  King's  lawful 
wife,  claimed  also  for  her  children  equal  rights  with 
those  of  the  Florentine  Princess.  Indeed  she  did  more, 
she  asserted  the  right  of  her  son  to  be  called  Dauphin  of 
France  and  intrigued  with  Spain,  which  insolently  recog- 
nised the  claim  of  the  mistress,  while  declaring  that  the 
Queen's  children  were  but  bastards. 

A  month  later  the  decree  was  received  pronouncing 
the  cancellation  of  the  King's  marriage  with  Marguerite 
de  Valois,  whereupon  Sully  was  not  to  be  put  off  from 
his  determination  to  carry  out  the  Italian  match  in  spite 
of  the  King's  promises  to  Henriette.  By  the  terms  of 
the  promise  which  Henri  had  signed,  while  the  Marquis 
d'Entragues  consented,  in  consideration  of  the  payment 
of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns,  to  hand  over  his 
daughter  to  be  *'  the  King's  companion,"  this  latter 
promised  that  "  should  Henriette  within  six  months  after 
date  become  enceinte  and  bear  a  son  "  he  would  make  her 
his  Queen. 

Sully,  who  had  no  intention  of  waiting  to  see  what 
might  or  might  not  happen,  came  one  day  to  see  the 
King  about  some  matters  of  State,  As  he  was  leaving, 
apparently  as  an  after-thought,  he  remarked  casually, 
"  By  the  way.  Sire,  we  have  just  been  marrying  you." 
Thereupon  the  King  "  remained  for  half  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  dreaming,  scratching  his  head,  cleaning  his  nails,  but 
saying  nothing."  At  length  he  woke  up,  slapped  one 
hand  upon  another,  and  exclaimed  that  if  Sully  declared 
that,  for  the  good  of  the  Kingdom,  he  had  got  to  be 
married  he  supposed  that  he  would  have  to  agree  to  it. 
But  he  added  that  he  very  much  feared  to  be  linked  to  a 
woman  with  an  obstinate  nature,  one  who  would  fill  his 
life  with  domestic  troubles. 


and  of  Marguerite  dt  Valois  395 

Henri  could  not  get  out  of  the  engagements  entered 
into  on  his  behalf  for  this  political  match,  for  the  reason 
that  the  necessity  of  a  war  with  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had 
become  more  than  ever  apparent,  and  the  dowry  of  Marie 
de  M^dicis  was  urgently  required  before  military  opera- 
tions could  be  commenced.  The  Grand-Duke  of  Tuscany 
sent  the  money  without  any  delay,  whereupon  Sully,  who 
was  anxious  to  inaugurate  by  a  campaign  his  new  appoint- 
ment as  Grand-Master  of  the  Artillery,  pushed  forward 
the  preparations  for  the  invasion  of  Savoy,  and  the 
attack  on  the  mountain  fortresses  of  that  Duchy. 

Nevertheless,  during  that  year  1600,  while  making 
ready  to  proceed  upon  this  new  campaign  at  the  head 
of  his  army,  Henri  constantly  found  himself  being  torn 
in  different  directions.  His  honour  and  ambition  alike 
urged  him  to  go  and  punish  Charles  Emanuel  of  Savoy 
for  his  repeated  breaches  of  faith  in  retaining  the  Mar- 
quisate  of  Saluzzo,  which  belonged  to  France — necessity 
pushed  him  to  a  marriage  in  which  his  heart  was  not 
in  the  slightest  degree  concerned,  and  he  felt,  at  the  same 
time,  the  importance  of  disarming  Henriette  by  taking 
back  from  her  the  promise  that  he  had  given. 

There  was  all  the  more  necessity  for  this  since  the 
King's  mistress  had  become  enceinte  within  the  stipulated 
time  of  six  months.  Should  she  continue  to  hold  that 
paper  and  bear  a  son,  how  could  the  King  avoid  marrying 
her.? 

The  position  was  awkward,  certainly,  but,  while 
Henriette  and  her  father  distinctly  declined  to  restore 
the  binding  document  which  they  held,  Henri  contrived, 
for  the  time  being,  to  dry  the  tears  of  his  mistress  by 
promising  that  he  would  cause  her  to  marry  a  Prince 
of  the  Blood,  the  Due  de  Nevers.     At  the  same  time, 

24 


39^         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

he  sent  off  all  kinds  of  messages  to  Marie  de  Medicis 
by  the  Seigneur  de  Frontenac,  and  likewise  himself 
wrote  many  love-letters,  couched  in  ardent  strain,  to  the 
Florentine  Princess.  His  conduct  throughout  this  period 
was  stamped  with  extreme  duplicity.  For  instance, 
although  upon  October  19th,  1600,  Henri  was  in- 
formed that  his  marriage  by  proxy  had  taken  place  in 
Florence,  upon  that  same  date  he  wrote  to  Henriette, 
appointing  to  her  an  accredited  messenger  whom  she 
could  send  off  to  Rome  with  the  necessary  documents 
to  invalidate  the  Tuscan  marriage,  on  the  grounds  of 
his  previous  engagement.  At  the  same  time,  however, 
Henri  IV.  took  measures  to  ensure  the  interception  of 
this  messenger,  so  that  he  should  never  be  able  to 
proceed  to  Rome. 

The  war  in  Savoy  was  a  most  brilliantly  conducted 
affair,  and  crowned  with  the  greatest  success,  in  spite 
of  the  treachery  to  the  King  of  the  Due  de  Biron,  son 
of  the  old  Mar^chal  de  Biron,  who  was  in  secret  league 
with  Charles  Emanuel.  Henri  was  crowned  with  laurels, 
and  Sully  also,  who  had  done  wonders  with  his  artillery 
in  the  mountainous  country. 

Leaving  the  seat  of  war,  to  which  he  had  proceeded 
in  June  1600,  at  the  beginning  of  January  1601  the 
King  sent  off  the  captured  banners  to  Henriette,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  proceeded  to  Lyons  to  meet  Marie 
de  M6dicis,  who  had  landed  in  France  some  time 
previously,   with  an   immense  following. 

A  terrible  accident  had  in  the  meantime  occurred 
to  ruin  Henriette's  hopes.  A  flash  of  lightning  struck 
the  room  in  which  she  was,  and  passed  under  her  bed. 
The  fright  she  then  experienced  was  so  great  that  the 
Marquise  de  Verneuil  brought  into  the  world  a  still-born 


QUEEN    MARIE    DE    MEDICIS 
Second  wife  of  Henri  IV. 


307 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         399 

son.  This  misfortune  occurred  in  July  1600.  Thus, 
although  the  King's  angry  threats,  which  had  succeeded 
to  his  prayers,  had  proved  unavailing  to  compel  the 
Marquis  d'Entragues  and  his  daughter  to  deliver  up  the 
promise  of  marriage,  fate  had  intervened  at  a  fortunate 
moment  upon  the  side  of  the  perjured  King,  who  was, 
however,  still  captivated  with  the  girl  whom  he  did  not 
choose  to  marry. 

A  couple  of  months  after  the  misfortune,  in  which  the 
delighted  Sully  saw  the  intervention  of  Providence  to 
prevent  the  success  of  Henriette's  manoeuvres,  she  had 
followed  Henri  almost  to  the  seat  of  war,  to  Lyons  and 
to  Chambery  in  Savoy,  vainly  hoping  to  the  last  to 
induce  the  King  to  redeem  his  promise.  At  the  former 
city  she  had  been  accorded  a  triumphal  welcome,  there 
being  a  precedent  for  such  a  reception  of  a  Royal  maitresse 
en  litre  from  the  fact  that  Lyons  had  treated  the  beautiful 
Diane  de  Poitiers  in  a  similar  manner  in  the  time  of 
Henri  II. 

From  this  time,  however,  seeing  that  the  marriage 
of  the  King  would  soon  be  an  accomplished  fact,  Henriette, 
whom  nothing  would  mollify,  began  to  avenge  herself. 
She  commenced  by  treating  with  disdain  the  flags  which 
the  King  had  sent  to  her,  and  which  had,  as  it  happened, 
been  captured  by  Sully  at  Charbonnieres,  a  place  which 
he  had  taken.  These  banners  were  not  retained  by  the 
Marquise  de  Verneuil ;  she  sent  them  away,  to  be  placed 
in  the  Church  of  Saint  Just,  at  Lyons,  as  she  had  no 
use  for  them  herself. 

The  celebrated  conspiracy  of  the  Due  de  Biron,  which 
eventually  cost  that  great  noble  his  head,  had  commenced 
during  the  war  in  Savoy.  In  this,  while  the  Comte 
d'Auvergne  took  an  important  part,  the  Marquis  d'En- 


400         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

tragues  had  also  a  share.  Although  there  is  no  proof 
that  Henrlette  was  personally  involved  in  the  intrigues 
which  then  took  place  with  Savoy  and  with  Spain,  it 
seems  more  than  probable  that  she  was  privy  to  her 
father's  plottings,  caused,  no  doubt,  from  a  feeling  of 
vengeance  against  the  King. 

Knowing  that,  henceforth,  she  could  not  hope  to 
become  the  King's  wife,  and  aware  how  she  held  him 
through  the  senses,  Henriette  now  determined  to  punish 
him  by  withdrawing  herself  from  him.  During  the 
time  of  this  conspiracy  she  accordingly  wrote  to  Henri 
a  long  letter  of  adieu,  and  retired  to  a  distance  so  as  to 
be  well  beyond  his  reach. 

Henri  was,  however,  not  the  least  affected  by  this 
epistle,  which  he,  rightly,  did  not  consider  as  final, 
especially  as,  for  the  moment,  his  volatile  head  was  full 
of  Marie  de  M6dicis,  of  which  young  Princess  he  had 
received  the  most  flattering  descriptions. 

To  her  he  accordingly  wrote  often,  and  in  terms  of 
ever-increasing  and  most  astounding  familiarity  and 
vulgarity.  These  were  not,  in  the  least,  resented  by 
the  Florentine  Princess,  who  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  astonished,  even  when  the  King  called  her  "  my 
dear  mistress,"  and  explained  that  it  was  as  a  mistress, 
and  not  as  a  wife,  that  his  heart  was  full  of  love  for 
her,  A  perusal  of  these  letters,  and  also  many  of  the 
later  ones  from  Le  Rot  vert-galant  to  Henriette,  is  not 
calculated  to  increase  our  respect  for  his  memory,  so 
plainly  do  they  display  the  sensual  tendencies  which  in- 
creased with  his  advancing  years. 

Upon  leaving  Savoy  and  reaching  Lyons,  upon  the 
very  cold  night  of  January  9th,  1601,  Henri  IV.,  without 
declaring  himself,  first  in  disguise  watched  his  new  con- 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  401 

sort  at  her  supper.  Then,  although  not  yet  married,  he 
sent  a  polite  message  to  Marie,  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
arrived  on  horseback,  cold,  and  without  a  bed,  and  asked 
from  her  hospitality  for  the  night  in  her  chamber.  To 
this  request  Marie  consented  without  any  demur,  and  on 
January  17th  they  were  married. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIIl 

Henri  enslaved  by  the  Marquise 

1600 — 1608 

The  official  marriage  of  Henri  IV.,  by  the  Papal  Legate, 
took  place  at  Lyons,  on  January  17th,  1601,  and  on 
January  18  th  he  left  the  newly  made  wife,  with  whom 
he  had  been  living  maritalement  for  a  week  before  their 
nuptials  were  solemnised. 

Travelling  by  post,  the  King  proceeded  to  Paris, 
where  he  rejoined  Henriette  d'Entragues  upon  January 
20th,  and  made  her  his  apologies  for  having  married 
another  woman.  Apparently,  these  apologies  were  re- 
ceived in  a  more  amiable  spirit  than  might  have  been 
expected  ;  but  very  shortly  afterwards  Henri  was  once 
more  with  the  young  Queen,  who  followed  him  to  Paris. 
There  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil  lost  no  time  in  being 
presented  to  her,  by  the  Duchesse  de  Nemours,  which 
introduction  enraged  the  Queen. 

The  first-born  child  of  the  Queen,  which  came  into 

the  world   only  one   month   before    the   second   of  the 

Marquise,  was  probably  the  son  of  Orsino  Orsini,  one 

of  the  cousins  and  cavalieri  serventi,  whom  Marie   had 

brought   with   her    from    Italy.       This    son,    afterwards 

Louis    XIII.,    had    nothing   of    the    Frenchman    in    his 

appearance,  but  was  of  the  pure  Italian  type,  not  German, 

like  his  half-Austrian  mother. 

402 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         403 

The  date  of  the  birth  of  Louis  XIII.  was  September 
27th,  1 60 1,  while  that  of  Henriette's  son,  Gaston-Henri 
by  name,  was  October  27th,  1601.  This  boy  was  made 
Bishop  of  Metz  in  childhood.  He  married  later,  and 
became  Due  de  Verneuil. 

Perpetual  conflicts  now  took  place  between  Henri 
and  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil,  to  appease  whom  he 
forced  Sully  to  send  her  six  thousand  crowns,  just  in 
order  to  keep  her  quiet. 

A  plot,  in  which  the  Queen  had  a  hand,  to  ruin 
Henriette,  now  took  place.  It  was  of  a  despicable  char- 
acter, and  the  prime  movers  in  the  aflfkir  were  that 
busybody,  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  the  younger  brother 
of  the  young  Due  Charles  de  Guise,  and  a  lady  of  the 
volatile  stock  of  Babou  de  la  Bourdaisi^re. 

Henriette,  following  out  her  plan  for  humiliating  her 
Royal  lover,  was  first  faithless  to  Henri  IV.  with  Join- 
ville and  then  with  others,  including  the  Due  de  Guise. 

Joinville  basely  gave  the  letters  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Marquise,  to  the  Duchesse  de  Villars,  who  was 
Juliette  d'Estr^es,  one  of  Gabrielle's  sisters,  and  had  at 
one  time  attracted  the  King's  attention.  With  Madame 
de  Villars  Joinville  was  now  on  the  best  of  terms,  and  this 
neglected  lady,  who  bore  rancour  against  the  King  in 
her  heart,  with  the  young  Queen's  knowledge,  passed  the 
incriminating  letters  on  to  Henri  IV. 

Henri  was  furious,  and  sent  the  Comte  de  Lude  as 
his  Ambassador,  to  reproach  his  false  mistress.  Not  in 
the  least  alarmed,  Henriette  merely  sneered  and  denied 
that  she  had  ever  written  the  letters,  which  she  said  were 
forgeries. 

There  was  such  a  general  outcry  over  this  affair  in 
which   Bellegarde,   whom  Henriette   hated,  was  likewise 


4^4         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

concerned,  that  Joinville  chose  the  part  of  declaring,  with 
Henriette,  that  the  letters  were  false  and  had  been  forged 
by  the  secretary  of  the  Due  de  Guise.  Merely  for  a 
joke,  said  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  had  he  given  the 
letters  to  Madame  de  Villars.  The  result  was  that,  while 
Henriette  remained  triumphant,  the  Duchesse  de  Villars 
was  exiled  from  Paris,  and  the  Prince  de  Joinville  sent 
ofF  to  Hungary.  According  to  Lestoille,  the  angry  King 
had  first  given  the  order  to  have  him  slain  with  a  poniard, 
a  fate  from  which  he  escaped. 

Henriette,  restored  to  favour,  was  now  brought  into 
the  Louvre  by  Henri  IV.,  and  given  apartments  close  to 
those  of  the  Queen. 

The  family  of  Royal  children  in  the  Louvre,  of  every 
description,  went  on  increasing.  There  were  two  new 
arrivals  to  swell  the  list  at  the  end  of  1602  and  beginning 
of  1603  ;  the  Queen's  daughter,  Elizabeth  de  France, 
being  born  two  months  before  Gabrielle-Angelique,  the 
daughter  of  the  Marquise. 

In  the  year  1603  a  new  and  very  serious  plot  was 
formed  against  the  King  ;  there  being  concerned  in  it, 
with  the  Comte  d'Auvergne  and  the  Due  de  Bouillon, 
both  Henriette  and  her  father.  The  conspiracy  was  dis- 
covered at  the  beginning  of  1 604,  at  which  time  we  also 
find  Henri  piteously  complaining  to  Sully  that  Henriette 
is  playing  the  prude  with  him,  and  making  the  excuse  of 
devotion  to  refuse  to  live  with  him  on  the  old  familiar 
terms. 

Henriette's  half-brother,  d'Auvergne,  was,  although 
surrounded  by  armed  men,  captured  by  a  ruse  and  thrust 
into  the  Bastille.  Here,  in  a  cowardly  manner,  this 
bastard  Prince  gave  away  the  names  of  all  concerned  in 
the   conspiracy^,  npt  forgetting   to  throw  a  considerable 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  4^5 

share   of  the  blame    upon    the    shoulders   of  his    sister 
Henriette. 

Sully  now  held  up  before  the  eyes  of  the  King  his 
recent  ideals  of  glory,  in  a  proposed  attack  on  Spain, 
which  was  concerned  in  the  plot,  and  begged  his  master 
to  forget  anything  else  than  his  grand  projects  and  to 
treat  the  conspirators  as  they  deserved. 

Henri  was,  however,  at  this  time  involved  so  deeply 
in  quarrels  with  both  his  wife  and  his  mistress,  who  were 
also  quarrelling  with  each  other,  that  conspiracies  against 
the  State  scarcely  affected  him. 

Henriette  was,  however,  put  under  arrest  for  a  time 
in  one  of  her  own  houses,  while  her  father  and  her  half- 
brother  were  condemned  to  death.  Upon  the  eventual 
delivery  of  the  long-desired  promise  of  marriage  into  the 
King's  hands  in  July  1604,  the  Marquis  d'Entragues 
was  set  at  liberty,  and  Henriette  also,  merely  the  Comte 
d'Auvergne  being  detained  in  the  Bastille, 

Henriette  had  behaved  with  the  greatest  sang-froid 
over  this  affair,  in  which,  among  others,  was  concerned 
her  confessor,  the  P^re  Archange,  the  natural  son  of 
Marguerite  de  Valois  by  Champvallon. 

When  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil  was  examined,  she 
expressed  herself  boldly  as  follows  : 

"  Death  has  nothing  to  frighten  me  ;  on  the  contrary, 
I  desire  it.  If  the  King  should  deprive  me  of  my  life 
people  will,  at  all  events,  say  that  he  has  put  his  wife  to 
death.  I  was  Queen  before  the  Italian  woman.  In  any 
case,  I  have  only  three  things  to  demand  from  the  King  : 
a  pardon  for  my  father,  a  rope  for  my  brother,  and 
justice  for  myself."  When  the  King  found  Henriette 
in  tears  at  his  feet,  he  weakly  mingled  his  own  tears 
with  hers. 


4o6         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

During  this  time,  in  order  to  be  revenged  upon  his 
faithless  sweetheart,  who  disdained  to  conceal  her  im- 
moralities, and  even  invented  false  affairs  merely  to  annoy 
the  King,  this  latter  amused  himself  with  other  ladies. 
Principal  among  these  was  a  lovely  girl,  Jacqueline  de 
Bueil,  whom  the  King  provided  with  the  title  of  Com- 
tesse  de  Moret,  and  likewise  supplied  with  a  dummy 
husband. 

Although  from  1604  until  1610,  when  he  was 
assassinated,  Henri  IV.  remained  on  good  terms  with 
Jacqueline,  he  always  found  her  wanting  in  the  smart 
conversation  by  which  Henriette  was  distinguished.  In 
spite,  therefore,  of  all  her  misdemeanours,  not  the  least 
of  which  was  to  speak  continually  in  the  most  abomin- 
able manner  of  the  Queen,  who  demanded  vengeance, 
the  King  returned  to  the  Marquise  again  and  again, 
who  was,  however,  compelled  for  a  time  to  leave  Paris 
and  live  upon  her  estate  of  Verneuil. 

When  the  King  discovered  her  desk  full  of  com- 
promising love-letters  it  was  in  vain  that  Sully  urged 
him  once  more  to  be  firm ;  for  what  did  he  do  but 
merely  send  the  Minister,  for  the  hundredth  time,  to 
expostulate  with  Henriette  upon  her  behaviour. 
"  Notable  imprudence  !  "  remarks  Michelet,  "  humiliated 
and  under  the  yoke  of  this  pardon,  and  compelled  to 
suffer  this  love,  she  became  henceforth  insupportable." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  faults  of  Marie  de 
Medicis,  with  her  Orsini,  her  Concini,  and  female 
favourite  Leonora  Galigai,  matters  would  never  have 
proceeded  to  extremes  between  her  and  Henri  had  it 
not  been  for  his  lowering,  and  base,  passion  for  Henriette, 
which  left  him  without  an  atom  of  pride  or  self-respect. 
At   one  time  that  excellent   peace-maker  Sully  took   it 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  4^7 

upon  himself  to  speak  seriously  to  the  Queen,  and  to 
give  her  some  advice  as  to  how  to  behave  so  as  to  keep 
her  husband  at  home.  He  told  Marie  that  Henri  did 
not  like  to  see  women  sitting  glum  and  silent,  but  to 
laugh  and  talk  to  him,  to  tell  him  merry  stories,  and 
listen  to  his  own  in  turn. 

The  Florentine,  who  was  naturally  a  remarkably  un- 
interesting woman,  did  her  very  best  to  be  good  and  to 
follow  this  advice  for  a  time.  No  longer,  when  Henri 
came  into  the  room,  was  he  greeted  by  frowns  or  silence. 
Marie  received  him  now  merrily,  with  a  welcoming  smile, 
and  made  every  effort  to  be  agreeable  and  amusing. 

For  a  short  time  all  went  well  at  the  Court,  and 
Sully  was  feeling  delighted  at  his  handiwork,  when  some 
spiteful  letter  or  other  arrived  from  the  Marquise  de 
Verneuil,  and  the  King  declared  that  he  must  go  away 
at  once  to  make  up  the  quarrel  in  person.  After  that 
there  was  no  more  effort  to  make  herself  agreeable  on 
the  part  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  while,  herself  wrapped  up 
in  her  lover  Concino  Concini,  with  a  feeling  of  absolute 
disgust  she  allowed  her  husband  to  do  as  he  chose,  and 
return  to  his  wallowing  in  the  mire  with  the  woman 
who  dragged  him  down. 

Sully  says  that  Henriette  did  all  in  her  power  to 
stir  up  strife,  and  that  she  knew  all  ways  in  which  to 
do  so. 

The  grave  Minister  remarks  of  her  tricks  that  *'  there 
would  be  enough  to  make  a  large  volume,  to  form  the 
subject  of  a  dozen  comedies,  some  capable  of  degenerating 
into  tragedies,  so  much  did  she,  and  others  with  her, 
indulge  in  intrigues,  in  their  amours  going  so  far  as  to 
have  the  banns  of  marriage  published."  Sully  here  refers 
to  an  engagement  of  marriage  which  Henriette,  in  order 


4o8         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

to  irritate  the  King,  caused  to  be  announced  first  with 
the  Prince  de  Joinville,  and  then  with  the  Due  de  Guise. 
She  caused  the  banns  to  be  published  in  church  in  this 
latter  case,  but  Guise  declared  that  he  had  given  no 
promise  to  marry  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil. 

At  length,  as  the  Queen  grew  more  and  more  angry 
at  the  assumption  of  Henriette  that  her  children  were 
the  only  legal  ones,  so  did  the  Marquise  become  more 
sulky,  and  enact  more  frequently  the  part  of  a  prude. 
She  announced  her  coming  marriage,  and  calmly  in- 
formed the  King  that  she  expected  him  to  give  her  a 
dowry  of  a  hundred  thousand  crowns. 

What  perhaps  helped  to  disgust  Henri  upon  one 
occasion  with  the  behaviour  of  his  mistress,  was  the 
callousness  she  displayed  when  the  Queen,  with  Gabrielle's 
son,  the  Due  de  Vendome,  was  nearly  drowned  in 
June  1606.  The  accident  took  place  at  the  ford  at 
Neuilly,  and  the  Queen  and  Vendome  were  both  dragged 
out  of  the  river  by  the  hair  of  their  heads  by  a  brave 
noble  named  La  Chataigneraie. 

Henriette  scarcely  ever  spoke  of  the  Queen  to  the 
King  but  as  "  Your  fat  banker's  wife,"  but  upon  the 
occasion  of  this  accident  she  was  even  more  disagreeable 
than  usual. 

"  Had  I  seen  what  happened,"  remarked  the  little 
spitfire  to  Henri,  "  I  would  have  laughed  with  all  my 
heart  and  cried  out,  as  cheerfully  as  possible,  '  The  Queen 
is  drinking  !  '  " 

This  speech  was  immediately  reported  to  Marie  de 
M6dicis,  who  was  so  furious  with  the  King  for  not 
having  resented  or  punished  it  that  she  refused  to  speak 
to  him  for  a  fortnight. 

An  almost  final  cause  of  anger  arose  between  Henri 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  409 

de  Navarre  and  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil  in  1608. 
Having  found  his  little  son  by  her  reading  a  Spanish 
prayer-book  at  the  Mass,  he  then  writes  severely  to 
Henriette,  saying  :  "  I  do  not  choose  that  he  shall  even 
know  that  there  is  a  Spain." 

Shortly  after  this  the  King,  at  last  worn  out  with 
his  spiteful  mistress,  whose  very  perversity  had  hitherto 
attracted  him,  resigned  her  and  allowed  her  to  go  her 
own  way.  To  assist  Henri  in  his  laudable  resolution, 
there  was,  of  course,  a  new  woman  in  the  case.  She  was 
a  beautiful  girl  of  fifteen,  Charlotte  de  Montmorency, 
daughter  of  the  Constable  of  France.  Until  Henri  died, 
however,  he  continued  to  see  Henriette  occasionally,  who 
devoted  herself  to  gluttony  and  became  very  fat.  When 
the  King  wished  to  annoy  anybody  about  the  Court,  he 
used  to  make  a  point  of  saying  that  he  would  go  and 
visit  the  Marquise.  Henriette,  however,  continued  to 
send  insulting  messages,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
specimen. 

Sending  her  young  son  to  kiss  the  King's  hands, 
this  cvil-tongued  woman  said  to  the  boy,  "  Tell  the 
King  that,  were  you  not  already  in  existence,  I  would 
take  care  never  to  be  your  mother." 

Never  did  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil  lose  her  rancour 
against  Henri  IV.,  and  when,  in  16 10,  he  fell  under  the 
knife  of  the  assassin  Ravaillac,  the  evidence  of  her 
unfortunate  friend  Mademoiselle  d'Escoman  plainly 
showed  that  Henriette  shared  in  the  murderous  plot 
with  the  Due  d'Epcrnon  and  Concino  Concini,  the 
Queen's  favourite.  As  the  Queen  caused  Mademoiselle 
d'Escoman  to  be  walled  up  alive,  rather  than  allow  her 
evidence  to  be  published,  Henriette  d'Entragues  was 
never  punished  for  her  share  in  the  conspiracy,  which 


410         The  Amours  o{  Henri  de  Navarre 

turned  the  head  of  the  half  crazy  fanatic,  Ravaillac,  and 
made  of  him  a  regicide.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  was, 
indeed,  too  much  afraid  of  its  own  skin  to  condemn 
any  one — but,  at  the  same  time,  when  the  judgment  was 
dehvered,  in  March  1612,  the  Parliament  took  care  to 
exonerate  no  one,  not  even  Marie  de  MMicis,  the 
Queen-Regent. 

Nevertheless,  a  kind  of  an  infamous  reputation  clung 
to  Henriette  d'Entragues  for  the  rest  of  her  life.  While 
she  ate  and  drank  her  fill,  and  endeavoured  hard,  but  in 
vain,  to  supply  herself  with  a  husband,  the  Marquise  de 
Verneuil  was  looked  upon  with  more  than  suspicion  by 
all  who  had  loved  Henri  IV.  When  Henriette  found, 
by  the  marriage  of  Joinville  to  the  Duchesse  de  Chevreuse 
and  that  of  Guise  to  the  widowed  Duchesse  de  Mont- 
pensier,  that  her  chances  were  ruined,  she  retired  into 
obscurity.  While  she  made  of  eating  the  business  of 
her  life,  her  tongue  never  lost  its  old  trick  of  sharp 
sayings ;  she  became,  however,  careful  to  spare  the 
Queen,  who  had  become  all-powerful  as  Regent  of  France. 

Henriette  d'Entragues  lived  for  twenty-three  years 
after  the  death  of  Henri  IV.  She  eventually  died  in 
1633,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX 

The  Last  Days  of  Marguerite 

1606 — 161 5 

When  Marguerite  de  Valois  returned  at  last  to  what 
she  considered  as  her  home,  the  people  of  Paris  received 
her  most  cordially,  and  expressed  their  wishes  that  she 
would  remain  to  live  among  them.  Marguerite  had  now 
become  decidedly  fat,  and  she  wore  large  masses  of  flaxen 
hair,  to  obtain  which  she  kept  several  fair-haired  footmen, 
whose  heads  were  shaved  at  stated  periods.  She  was, 
however,  still  celebrated  by  the  poets  and  others  as  being 
'*  the  beautiful  Queen  Marguerite,"  her  reputation  for 
beauty  long  outlasting  the  undoubted  charms  of  her 
earlier  years.  To  the  old  Catholic  families,  which  con- 
sidered the  Bourbons  as  usurpers,  anything  connected 
with  the  ancient  glories  of  the  Valois  seemed  beautiful. 

In  order  to  please  herself  as  much  as  the  people,  the 
last  of  the  Valois  now  removed  from  the  Chateau  of 
Madrid,  which  was  without  the  city,  to  a  splendid  h6tel, 
called  the  H6tel  de  Sens,  within  the  walls.  She  now 
became  upon  most  affectionate  terms  with  Henri,  Marie 
de  M6dicis,  and  the  Royal  children,  openly  declaring 
that  she  intended  to  make  the  Dauphin  the  heir  to  all 
her  estates.  So  intimate  was  the  ex-Queen  with  the  new 
Queen  that  we  hear,  upon  one  occasion,  of  Marguerite 

4". 


412         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

being  seen  upon  her  knees  by  the  side  of  Marie's  bed, 
while  Henri  IV.  was  seated  upon  it  with  the  Dauphin, 
and  playing  with  a  little  dog. 

In  this  dwelling,  which  had  been  previously  occupied 
by  various  Cardinals,  Marguerite  installed  her  Court  and 
lived  in  Royal  fashion.  She  surrounded  herself  with 
wits,  savants,  pretty  women,  priests,  poets,  and  good- 
looking  young  nobles  ;  in  every  sense  the  h6tel  of  the 
Queen  Marguerite  must  be  considered  as  having  been 
a  Court  and  not  as  a  mere  salon.  She  chose  to  live  in 
Royal  style,  and  was  treated  as  a  Queen  at  her  repasts,  her 
plates  and  dishes  being  handed  to  her  by  her  gentlemen. 

Marguerite  was  the  better  able  to  live  in  the  extravagant 
style  that  she  loved  owing  to  the  fact  that,  fortunately 
for  her,  her  law-suit  with  her  nephew,  the  Comte 
d'Auvergne,  had  at  length  been  decided  by  the  Parliament 
in  her  favour. 

It  seems  more  than  probable  that  the  fact  of  Charles 
de  Valois  being  confined  in  the  Bastille,  while  his  aunt 
was  openly  proclaiming  her  intention  of  making  the 
Dauphin  her  heir,  may  have  gained  for  Marguerite  the 
good-will  of  the  Court  with  the  judges  in  this  matter, 
which  had  dragged  along  for  over  a  dozen  years.  Thus 
the  knowledge  of  the  King's  wishes  helped  the  Parliament 
to  a  tardy  decision. 

Upon  the  rights  of  the  case  alone,  however,  the 
Queen  of  Navarre  should  long  since  have  been  put  in 
possession  of  the  territories  left  by  Catherine  de  Medicis 
to  the  Comte  d'Auvergne,  merely  as  a  matter  of  spite 
and  to  oblige  Henri  III. 

The  production  of  the  marriage  contract  of  Catherine 
de  Medicis,  whose  mother  was  a  French  Princess,  Made- 
leine de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne,  proved  conclusively  that, 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  413 

all  her  male  children  being  dead,  her  French  estates 
should  descend  to  Marguerite  de  Valois,  the  sole  sur- 
viving female. 

The  delight  of  this  Princess  when  informed,  in  a 
church,  of  the  decision  in  her  favour  was  so  great  that 
she  instantly  caused  a  TV  Deum  to  be  performed.  While 
reserving  to  herself  the  usufruct  of  their  income  for  her 
lifetime,  she  made  over  the  immense  estates  by  deed  of 
gift  to  the  King  and  the  Dauphin,  and  now  became  quite 
at  her  ease. 

As,  like  her  brother  Henri  III.,  Marguerite  was  very 
fond  of  music,  she  now  provided  herself  with  a  string 
band  and  also  a  choir  of  vocal  musicians.  She  wrote 
verses  to  be  set  to  music,  occasionally  sang  herself 
in  the  chorus,  or  else  played  and  sang  solos  to  the 
lute. 

While  amusing  herself  with  gay  society,  Marguerite 
did  not  forget  her  devotions  ;  she  visited  hospitals,  and 
made  religious  endowments  upon  a  large  scale.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  advancing  years  had  not  had  their 
expected  effect  upon  the  mode  of  living  of  this  Princess, 
whose  life  continued  to  be  as  scandalous  in  Paris  as  it 
had  been  at  Usson. 

In  spite  of  her  great  vanity  of  her  high  birth,  her 
pride  of  being  a  Daughter  of  France,  the  divorced  wife 
of  Henri  IV.  never  considered  that  it  would  be  well 
for  one  in  her  exalted  position  to  behave  herself  with 
anything  like  a  becoming  reticence. 

Her  continued  love-affa,irs  resulted,  not  very  long 
after  her  establishing  herself  in  the  Hotel  de  Sens,  in  a 
tragedy  which  cost  two  young  lives.  The  Queen  of 
Navarre  had  attached  herself  greatly  to  a  young  gentle- 
man from  Provence.     She  had  made  this  young  fellow, 

25 


414         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

whose  name  was  Date  de  Saint-Julien,  her  page,  and  took 
him  about  with  her  everywhere.  At  the  same  time 
she  had  indulged  in  familiarities  with  another  young 
man  named  Vermont,  whose  father  and  mother  had  long 
formed  part  of  her  household,  and  had  indeed  been  left 
by  her  in  charge  of  the  Castle  at  Usson  when  she  had 
come  to  Paris.  Saint-Julien,  aged  twenty,  and  Vermont, 
aged  eighteen,  became  rivals,  and  so  bitter  was  the  hatred 
of  the  latter  for  the  favourite  page  that  he  resolved  to 
murder  him.  Selecting  an  opportunity  when  Marguerite 
was  returning  with  Saint-Julien  from  hearing  the  Mass, 
Vermont  shot  the  page  through  the  head  with  a  pistol, 
by  the  side  of  her  carriage.  He  attempted  to  fly,  but 
was  seized  almost  at  once.  According  to  the  Divorce 
Satyrique  Marguerite,  wild  with  grief  and  rage,  cried 
out :  "  Kill  the  rascal  !  hang  him  1  strangle  him !  here, 
take  my  garters." 

This  boy  of  eighteen,  although  he  was  not  fated 
to  be  strangled  with  the  garters  of  his  Royal  mistress, 
was  not  allowed  to  live  for  twenty-four  hours.  The 
furious  Marguerite  sent  to  the  King  to  ask  for  a  speedy 
punishment  to  be  inflicted ;  and  he  was  executed  on 
the  morrow  before  the  Hotel  de  Sens,  with  Marguerite 
looking  on  from  a  window.  The  youth,  before  dying, 
gloried  in  his  crime.  When  he  was  confronted  with  the 
corpse  of  his  rival  he  merely  turned  it  over  to  make  sure 
that  Date  was  quite  dead,  saying  that  if  he  was  not  he 
■would  finish  him. 

He  walked  gaily  to  the  scaffold,  hurled  away  the 
torch  he  had  been  given  to  hold  in  his  hand,  and  flatly 
refused  to  demand  pardon  of  the  Queen,  saying  that, 
since  he  had  succeeded  in  killing  his  enemy,  he  did  not 
mind  dying. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  415 

On  the  same  day  as  the  accomplishment  of  the  final 
scene  of  this  tragedy,  Marguerite  suddenly  felt  that  she 
must  fly  from  her  house  at  all  costs,  for  it  had  become 
horrible  to  her.  The  same  afternoon  she  established 
herself  in  a  large  country  house  at  Issy,  just  outside 
Paris,  which  she  soon  bought  from  the  King's  jeweller. 

For  some  time  after  this  tragedy  the  Queen  behaved 
in  an  almost  crazy  way,  from  apprehension  lest  the  family 
of  Vermont  should  avenge  themselves  upon  her,  and  she 
even  begged  from  the  King  the  order  to  have  all  the 
surviving  Vermonts,  male  and  female,  exiled  to  an  abbey 
which  belonged  to  her  in  Rouergue.  She  also  accused 
them  of  being  implicated  in  the  treason  of  the  Comte 
d'Auvergne,  and  likewise  of  dabbling  in  magic  and 
witchcraft. 

When  Henri  IV.  received  all  these  foolish  representa- 
tions from  his  former  wife  he  imagined  that  she  was 
going  mad  from  grief.  Accordingly,  to  console  her  for 
the  misfortune  which  she  had  experienced,  he  jocosely 
told  Marguerite  that  he  had  in  his  Court  plenty  of  squires 
as  brave  and  gallant  as  Saint-Julien,  and  that  when 
she  wanted  them  he  would  willingly  supply  her  with 
a  dozen  or  so. 

The  heart  of  Date  de  Saint-Julien  is  supposed  to 
have  gone  with  the  hearts  of  the  rest  of  her  deceased 
lovers  into  the  pockets  of  the  famous  vertugadin^  that 
of  Vermont  was  not,  however,  honoured  by  being 
preserved  in  a  similar  manner. 

It  was  not  long  before,  giving  up  her  h6tel  at  Issy, 
Marguerite  moved  across  the  Seine,  where  she  built 
herself  a  regular  palace  just  opposite  to  the  Louvre. 
Although  Henri  IV.  was  always  short  of  cash  himself, 
and  economically  inclined,  Marguerite  contrived  to   ex- 


41 6         The  Amours  of  Henri  dt  Navarre 

tract  from  him  very  considerable  sums  for  the  erection 
of  this  magnificent  hotel. 

The  lately  deceased  Saint- Julien  had  been  replaced  in 
the  amorous  Queen's  affections  by  a  doughty  squire  or 
equerry  named  Bajaumont,  on  whose  account  she  had 
many  heart-burnings.  Upon  one  occasion  Bajaumont 
was  unexpectedly  attacked  in  a  church,  but  made  such 
good  use  of  his  sword  as  to  | escape  uninjured.  Then 
Marguerite  lost  no  time  in  requesting  Henri  to  throw 
the  aggressor  of  her  latest  lover  into  the  dungeons  of 
For-l'J^veque,  when  the  King  was  kind  enough  to 
gratify  her. 

The  next  thing  that  Henri  IV.  learned  about  Bajau- 
mont was  that  he  was  seriously  ill,  and  his  former  wife  in 
despair  in  consequence.  Henri  had  been  visiting  Mar- 
guerite, and  was  distressed  at  the  news,  for  reasons  which 
concerned  himself 

Passing  out  through  the  apartment  in  which  were  the 
maids  of  honour,  the  King  said  to  these  young  ladies, 
half  mockingly,  half  seriously :  *'  Pray  to  heaven  for  the 
recovery  of  Bajaumont,  and  I  will  give  you  all  your 
fairings,  for  if  he  should  happen  to  die,  l^entre  saint-gris ! 
it  would  cost  me  ever  so  much  more.  For  then  the 
Queen  will  take  this  house  in  horror,  and  she  will  be 
wanting  me  to  buy  her  a  new  one." 

Bajaumont  did  not  die,  however,  and  thus  Henri  was 
relieved  from  his  fears  of  having  to  put  his  hand  in  his 
pocket  once  more.  The  King  learned,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  squire  had  gone  out  of  favour,  and  he  wrote 
to  Marie  de  Medicis,  in  April  1608,  to  the  effect  that 
all  the  news  that  he  had  to  communicate  was  that  Queen 
Marguerite  had  beaten  Bajaumont,  who  was  anxious  to 
be  off. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  4^7 

The  cause  of  the  quarrel  between  Marguerite  and  her 
favourite  was  a  simple  matter  of  jealousy.  He  was  not 
allowed  to  take  his  congi  at  that  time,  but  the  Queen 
sent  away  from  her  household  the  daughter  of  the  Comte 
de  Choisi,  with  whom  she  accused  him  of  carrying  on  a 
flirtation. 

When  Marguerite  complained,  to  the  girl's  father, 
that  she  was  worth  nothing,  and  had  governed  herself  ill, 
she  received  a  fitting  reproof.  The  Comte  de  Choisi 
replied  :  "  If  by  chance,  Madame,  you  had  happened  to 
govern  yourself  as  well,  you  would  still  be  in  possession 
of  the  Crown  which  you  have  lost." 

As  Marguerite  continued  to  reside  in  Paris,  she  re- 
mained on  good  terms  with  Marie  de  Medicis,  even  for 
five  years  after  the  assassination  of  Henri  IV.,  and  before 
his  death  did  much  to  reintroduce  into  the  Court  the 
old  extravagant  amusements  of  the  Valois.  Owing  to 
her  influence  it  was  that  the  famous  Court  ballets  became 
once  more  the  fashion,  and  Queen  Marguerite,  whose 
skill  and  taste  in  such  matters  were  unrivalled,  frequently 
not  only  suggested  the  scenes,  but  superintended  the 
rehearsals  in  person. 

In  the  beginning  of  March  1615  Marguerite  de 
Valois  assisted  at  one  of  these  ballets  at  the  Louvre, 
but  she  was  not  then  feeling  very  well.  She  was  also 
considerably  troubled  about  her  money  affairs,  which 
were  not  at  all  well  managed.  Her  last  Sovereign  action 
was  to  part  with,  or  pledge  for  the  sum  of  thirty-two 
thousand  livres,  two  of  the  seigneuries  of  her  Royal 
Duchy  of  Valois.  These  properties  were  named  re- 
spectively B6thisy  and  De  Verberie,  and  they  were 
acquired  by  a  Seigneur  de  Villers.  After  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  this  transaction  Marguerite  began  to 


41 S         The  Amours  of  Henri  dc  Navarre 

feel  worse,  and  upon  March  26th  her  Grand  Almoner, 
the  Bishop  of  Grasse,  warned  the  Queen  to  prepare  for 
death.  Thereupon  she  presented  the  Bishop  with  all  her 
silver  plate  to  keep  in  memory  of  her. 

Upon  the  following  day,  March  27th,  161 5,  after 
executing  a  codicil  to  her  will,  by  which  she  left  a  sum 
of  money  to  the  monks  of  Saint-Augustine,  died  Mar- 
guerite de  Valois,  Queen  of  France  and  Navarre  and 
Duchesse  de  Valois.  She  was  almost  sixty-two  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  her  decease,  having  been  born  on 
May  14th,  1553. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Henri's  Noble  Design  and  Last  Love 

1609 — 1610 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  reign  over  France, 
Henri  de  Navarre,  in  spite  of  the  time  taken  up  by 
his  foolish  love-affairs,  contrived  to  accomplish  a  vast 
amount  for  the  benefit  of  his  subjects.  Assisted  by  the 
indefatigable  Sully,  he  neglected  nothing  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  poorer  orders,  and  it  is  upon  this  circum- 
stance, more  than  his  wars,  that  rests  his  claim  to  being 
considered  as  a  great  and  humane  King.  Having  gone 
into  this  matter  fully  elsewhere  {Sidelights  on  the  Court 
of  France)  we  will  do  no  more  here  than  mention  that 
this  most  extraordinary  man  was  as  indefatigable  in 
doing  good,  in  a  manner  to  affect  the  happiness  of 
millions,  as  in  doing  evil,  in  ways  which  scarcely  injured 
any  but  himself. 

In  his  efforts  to  do  good  Henri  naturally  came 
into  contact  with  the  great  nobles  who  oppressed  the 
poor.  Among  these  was,  notably,  that  former  mignon 
of  Henri  III.,  Jean  de  la  Valette,  Due  d'Epernon,  who 
always  opposed  him,  and  whom  he  deprived  of  the 
Government  of  the  fortified  city  of  Metz.  D'Epernon 
was,  however,  a  very  strong  man  and  a  good  soldier, 
therefore,   since   he   was    not    openly   in   revolt   against 

419 


420         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

him,  Henri  considered  it  wiser  to  leave  him  at  liberty. 
He  did  not  wish  to  behead  d'Epernon  ;   although  his 
conduct  was  continually  suspicious,  Henri  had  personally 
suffered  so  much  in  his  humanity  from  the  decapitation 
of  the  Due  de  Biron  that  he  wished  to  resort  to  no  more 
extreme  measures.     To  imprison  him,  he  thought,  would 
be  useless,  perhaps  worse  than  useless,  since  d'Epernon 
was   upon    intimate   terms  with   the  Queen's   favourite, 
Concini ;   and  a  measure  of  that  description  would   be 
only  calculated  to  raise  strife  against  himself  in  his  own 
household.     D'Epernon  was  accordingly  left  unmolested 
in  a  grand  position  as  Governor  of  one  of  the  southern 
provinces,  and  well  treated  by  the   King  whenever  he 
was   present   at   the  Court.     Of  this  liberty  Jean  de  la 
Valette  took  advantage  for   several   years  to    plot  with 
Henriette  d'Entragues,  who  resented  her  compelled  ser- 
vility to  the  King's  pleasures,  and  with  Concini,  who,  with 
Marie  de  Medicis,  aimed  at   ruling   France.      Between 
them  and  their  allies,  the  Jesuits,  it  was  more  by  indirect 
than  by  direct  suggestion  that  they  eventually  armed  the 
hand  which  deprived  France  of  the  first  of  its  rulers  who 
had  ever  given  a  moment's  thought  to  the  interests  of 
the   poor.      These   had   hitherto    been    squeezed    most 
unmercifully  by  both  nobles  and  tax-gatherers,  and  com- 
pelled to  suffer  in  silence  for  a  thousand  years. 

During  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  the  contest 
between  the  Queen  and  the  King  became  more  than 
ever  bitter.  While,  the  insolent  Italian,  Concini  ruled 
Marie  de  M6dicis  absolutely,  she  treated  Henri  with 
the  greatest  contumely ;  at  her  saucy  favourite's  suggestion 
even  sending  back  dishes  which  the  King  sent  to  his 
wife  from  his  own  table,  asserting  that  they  were 
poisoned. 


and  of  Marguerite  dc  Valois  421 

Henri  IV.  accordingly  withdrew  himself  for  a  time 
from  the  Court,  where  the  Queen  was,  as  he  knew, 
intriguing  against  him  with  Spain,  and  repaired  to  the 
Arsenal,  where  he  lived  with  the  Due  de  Sully. 

Europe  was  at  this  time  in  a  pitiable  condition. 
Holland  had  been  suffering  terribly  from  the  cruelties 
of  Spain,  while  Austria,  the  close  ally  of  Spain,  was, 
under  the  Emperor,  perpetrating  one  act  of  aggression 
after  another  upon  the  Germanic  provinces.  Duchies, 
and  Principalities,  the  greater  number  of  which  now 
belonged  to  the  Reformed  religion. 

To  relieve  distressed  Europe,  to  crush  the  ruthless 
aggressors,  .to  save  the  homes  of  the  Protestants  from 
the  torch  and  their  wives  and  daughters  from  the 
brutality  of  a  soldiery  worthy  of  nothing  but  the  name 
of  banditti,  became  the  dream  of  Henri  IV. 

Backed  up  by  Sully  alone,  for  weeks  and  months  in 
the  Arsenal  Henri  IV.  secretly  wove  a  plot  by  which, 
after  crushing  the  power  of  Spain,  humbling  the  pride 
of  Austria,  and  returning  their  liberties  to  the  oppressed 
peoples,  he  should  inaugurate  an  era  of  peace  and 
prosperity  for  the  whole  of  Europe. 

It  was  a  great,  a  noble  idea !  While  Marie  de 
M6dicis,  in  whose  veins  ran  Spanish  blood,  was  negotia- 
ting for  the  marriage  of  two  of  her  young  children  to 
two  children  of  Philip  III.  of  Spain,  without  breathing 
a  word  of  their  intentions,  Henri  IV.  and  Sully  made 
preparations  for  the  conflict. 

The  armies  were  gradually  got  into  splendid  condi- 
tion, three  of  them  were  unostentatiously  massed  upon 
the  various  frontiers,  the  artillery,  in  which  Sully  took  so 
much  pride,  was  likewise  carefully  distributed  ready  for 
the   coming   onslaught.     At  the  same  time  Henri   was 


422         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

cunning  enough  to  deceive  his  two  Jesuit  Confessors, 
Fathers  Ignace  and  Cotton,  notably  the  latter  who  was 
constantly  urging  him  to  tie  closer  his  relations  with  the 
two  great  Catholic  Powers.  While  pretending  to  follow 
the  Jesuit's  advice,  Henri  was  in  the  greatest  secrecy 
negotiating,  on  the  other  hand,  alliances  with  Holland, 
the  Protestant  German  Principalities,  and  the  Duchy  of 
Savoy,  which  latter  was  now  willing  and  ready  to  fall 
into  his  arms.  While  matters  were  in  this  condition, 
and  three  noted  Protestant  commanders  :  Sully,-  Lesdi- 
guieres  and  La  Force,  appointed  to  the  three  armies 
which  were  ready  to  take  the  field,  Holland,  utterly  worn 
out,  was  obliged  to  give  in  to  Spain.  In  the  year  1609, 
moreover,  when  the  gallant  Henri  de  Navarre  was  already 
gaily  trying  on  his  new  suits  of  armour  at  the  Arsenal, 
the  Duke  of  Savoy  declared  that  it  would  still  take  him 
some  time  to  get  ready  for  action. 

Disappointed  at  the  delay,  but  resolved  only  to  strike 
the  harder  when  the  time  should  come,  Henri  IV.  found 
himself,  instead  of  once  more  mounting  his  war-horse, 
compelled  for  a  time  to  inaction.  Alas  !  for  the  old 
adage  that  Satan  finds  some  evil  still  for  idle  hands  to  do. 
Upon  this  occasion  Satan  was  represented  by  the  wicked 
little  god  Cupid  once  more,  and  his  bow  and  arrows 
were  held  in  the  fairest  hands  in  France.  The  owner  of 
those  hands,  Charlotte-Marguerite  de  Montmorency,  was, 
by  his  second  wife,  the  fascinating  Louise  de  Budos,  the 
fifteen-year-old  daughter  of  the  Conn^table  Due  de 
Montmorency,  formerly  known  as  Damville. 

It  was  at  the  rehearsal  of  one  of  the  ballets  introduced 
by  Marguerite  to  the  Louvre  that  Henri  IV.  first  beheld 
this  lovely  daughter  of  a  lovely  mother,  of  the  latter  of 
whom  the  beauty  had  been  indeed  considered  as  diabolic, 


Qlu'offtrViVI  Suit  iijni  MJr  i/ 


RAVAILLAC,    ASSASSIN    OF    HENRI    IV. 
(From  an  old  Print) 


423 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         425 

and  derived  by  magic  direct  from  Satan's  workshop. 
Louise  de  Budos  had  died  young  in  the  zenith  of  her 
charms,  when  her  mysterious  and  premature  end  was 
looked  upon  as  a  piece  of  public  good  fortune,  since 
it  delivered  men  and  women  from  the  danger  of  seeing, 
and  therefore  either  loving  or  hating  her,  both  being 
equally  dangerous.  This  mother  left  only  two  children, 
a  girl  and  a  boy,  the  former  of  whom  inherited  her 
mother's  charms  but  in  a  softened  fashion,  and  her 
ambitious  views. 

As  Princesse  de  Conde,  Charlotte-Marguerite  was 
famed  throughout  Europe  as  possessing  all  that  nature 
could  give.  Even  the  Papal  Legate,  Cardinal  Bentivoglio, 
was  enthusiastic  in  his  eulogies  of  the  charms  of  this 
child,  and  his  contemporaries  were  unanimous  in  their 
praises.  How  well  deserved  they  must  have  been  we  can 
judge  from  the  fact  that  the  spiteful  Mademoiselle  de 
Guise  could  write  of  her  in  the  following  eulogistic 
strain  :. 

*'  The  Queen  having  resumed  the  wish  to  carry  out 
the  ballet  already  proposed,  among  the  ladies  named  to 
take  part  in  it  the  incomparable  Princesse  de  Conde  was 
one.  She  was  then  so  young  that  she  was  only  just 
emerging  from  childhood,  her  beauty  was  miraculous,  and 
all  her  actions  so  agreeable  that  she  was  a  complete 
marvel  in  everything." 

Tallemant  des  Reaux  and  the  poet  Malherbc,  whom 
Henri  employed  to  write  his  sonnets  for  him,  both 
describe  the  all  too  susceptible  King  as  having  been 
thunder-struck  upon  the  first  occasion  of  his  beholding 
this  wonderful  young  beauty.  It  will  be  interesting  to- 
see  what  Tallemant  des  Reaux  has  to  say  about  the. 
celebrated  meeting  of  Henri  IV.   and   the   "  Nymph  of 


4^6         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

Diana,"  but  previously  we  must  make  an  explanation. 
This  is  that  the  King  and  Queen,  invariably  at  logger- 
heads on  all  points,  quarrelled  over  the  ladies  to  take  part 
in  this  ballet,  as  they  had  done  on  previous  occasions.  So 
angry  was  Henri  when  the  ladies  to  be  selected  for  the 
performance  to  be  called  "  The  Nymphs  of  Diana  "  were 
not  those  whom  he  had  chosen  that  he  refused  to  take 
any  interest  in  the  matter  or  to  attend  the  practices, 
which  took  place  in  the  Louvre.  He  even  kept  the  door 
of  his  cabinet  closed,  so  that  he  should  not  be  compelled 
to  see  the  Queen  and  the  young  ladies  passing  along  the 
corridor  to  go  to  the  saloon  wherein  their  figures  and 
posturing  were  practised.  One  day,  however,  his  door 
happening  to  be  ajar  as  they  passed,  Henri's  curiosity  was 
aroused  by  their  dress.  Presently  he  accordingly  rose, 
followed  them,  and  glanced  into  the  ball-room.  There- 
upon he  beheld  she  who  was  described  as  "a  new  star 
of  beauty  who  was  the  admiration  of  all  the  world  "  by 
an  author  who  also  says  that  Charlotte  de  Montmorency 
'*'  avait  la  taille  riche,  les  cheveux  blonds,  le  teint  blanc  et 
net,  le  visage  accompli  de  toutes  les  parties  qui  forment 
une  parfaite  beaute." 

Tallemant  des  Reaux  gives  the  following  account  of 
the  circumstances  which  brought  this  youthful  paragon 
into  the  life  of  the  King  : 

*'  The  Queen  some  time  later  had  a  ballet,  in  which 
she  put  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Court.  Believe,  then, 
that  she  did  not  forget  Mademoiselle  de  Montmorency, 
who  might  have  been  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  old.  One 
could  behold  nothing  so  beautiful  nor  so  sprightly  as  she, 
although  there  were  others  quite  as  spirituelle  at  any  rate. 

*' There  had  been  some  dispute  between  the  Queen 
and   the    King   over   this   ballet.     He  wanted  to   have 


PLASTER    CAST    OF    HENRI    IV.    OF    FRANCE    AND    NAVARRE 
(Taken  during  the  French  Revolution,  183  years  after  his  death) 


427 


The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre         429 

Madame  de  Moret  take  part  in  it.  The  Queen  did  not 
wish  this,  and  she  wanted  Madame  de  Verderonne,  whom 
the  King  would  not  have.  They  were  both  of  them 
wrong  in  those  whom  they  wished  for  and  right  in  those 
they  did  not  want.  In  the  end,  however,  the  Queen  got 
the  best  of  it." 

Here  our  author  goes  on  to  discuss  the  quarrel,  even 
describing  how  the  King  would  slam  his  door  as  the 
ladies  passed  by,  until  one  day,  by  chance,  he  came  out 
as  we  have  described.  Then,  when  Henri  glanced  into 
the  room  where  the  rehearsal  was  taking  place,  the  ladies,, 
clad  as  nymphs,  were  in  the  act  of  raising  their  javelins  as 
if  they  would  throw  them.  "  Mademoiselle  de  Mont- 
morency found  herself  vis-a-vis  to  the  King  as  she  raised 
her  dart,  and  it  seemed  as  though  she  sought  to  pierce 
him  with  it.  The  King  has  said  since  that  she  per- 
formed this  action  with  such  a  good  grace  that  effectively 
he  was  wounded  by  it  in  the  heart.  He  thought  that  he 
would  faint." 

This  pretty  scene,  with  which  the  King  was  so  deeply 
affected  that  he  fell  wildly  in  love  with  the  nymph  on 
the  spot,  took  place  on  January  i6th,  1609,  and,  as 
Charlotte  de  Montmorency  was  born  on  May  nth, 
1594,  it  will  be  perceived  that  she  was  only  fourteen 
years  and  eight  months  old  at  the  time  of  her  meeting 
with  the  fifty-six-year-old  Monarch.  When  the  extreme 
youth  of  the  damsel  is  taken  into  consideration,  it  seems 
to  us  that  a  great  deal  too  much  has  been  made  of  her 
complicity  in  a  love-afiair  which  almost  set  Europe  in  a 
blaze.  It  was,  however,  the  fashion  to  treat  girls  of 
fourteen  as  women  in  those  days,  and  accordingly  the 
historians  have  not  failed  to  credit  the  young  lady  who 
became    Princesse  de  Conde  with  full  responsibility  for 


43°         The  Amours  of  Henri  de  Navarre 

her  own  actions.  It  is  evident,  from  all  accounts,  that 
Charlotte  was  from  the  first  so  vastly  flattered  with  the 
effect  that  her  charms  produced  upon  the  King  that  she 
appeared  to  share  his  passion,  and  did  all  in  her  power 
to  encourage  it,  while  as  for  Henri,  in  the  words  of 
d'Aubigne  :  "  There  appeared  a  notable  change  in  his  old 
age,  heated  up  by  a  violent  love,  of  which  the  brasier 
threw  off  the  desires  in  clear  flames,  and  dissipated  in 
smoke  the  fear  and  its  vapours." 

This  sentence  of  the  brave  d'Aubigne,  which  is 
certainly  more  ambiguous  than  his  usual  style,  may  be 
taken  to  mean  that  Henri  seemed  rejuvenated  by  his 
senile  love,  and  other  writers  bear  the  historian  out  in 
this  respect. 

The  King  lost  no  time  in  determining  to  make  of 
this  fresh  young  rose  the  last  flower  in  his  nosegay  of 
fifty-six  chosen  blossoms,  and  there  seemed  none  to  object 
to  his  so  doing,  least  of  all  that  old  warrior  the  Due  de 
Montmorency,  Constable  of  France,  who  appeared  if 
anything  rather  flattered  at  his  master's  intentions,  which 
he  hoped,  by  judicious  management,  might  result  finally 
in  a  Crown  for  his  daughter.  For  the  behaviour  of  the 
Queen  with  Concini  was  so  scandalous  as  to  make  a 
second  divorce  by  no  means  an  impossibility. 

For  the  sake  of  les  bien  seances^  however,  it  was 
determined,  in  the  interim,  to  provide  the  lovely  young 
Charlotte  with  a  husband,  who  was  to  be  paid  to  make 
himself  scarce.  The  young  Henri,  Prince  de  Cond6,  was 
provided  for  this  purpose.  Although  known  to  be  of 
illegitimate  birth,  he  had  been  whitewashed  by  the  King, 
to  whom  he  owed  everything  in  the  world. 

The  marriage  took  place,  the  Prince  was  highly  paid, 
and  for  the  space  of  three  months  he  left  his  bride  alone. 


and  of  Marguerite  de  Valois  43^ 

During  the  whole  of  that  time,  however,  the  unfortunate 
Royal  lover  was  ill  with  an  access  of  the  gout. 

Before  the  King  had  recovered,  Conde  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  would  take  his  wife  unto  himself.  He  appeared 
suddenly  and  bore  her  off,  and  not  all  the  outcry  of  the 
outraged  King  nor  of  Montmorency  phe  availed  to  make 
him  bring  her  back  again.  Disguised  as  a  postilion,  the 
romantic  and  lovesick  King  contrived  to  see  his  young 
sweetheart  on  several  occasions,  when,  finding  that 
Charlotte  was  about  to  run  away  from  him,  the  youthful 
Conde  contrived,  by  a  trick,  to  drive  the  beautiful  girl 
off  to  Brussels,  where  he  claimed,  and  obtained,  Spanish 
protection.  In  Brussels,  however,  Cond6  indulged  in 
treasonable  practices  against  his  too  confiding  kinsman, 
the  King  of  France  ;  whereupon,  as  the  result  of  diplo- 
matic action,  it  seemed  by  no  means  unlikely  that  either 
he  or  his .  wife  might  be  restored  to  Henri  IV.,  in  order 
to  avert  the  threatened  war. 

How  the  matter  would  have  been  decided  is  un- 
certain, as  the  dagger-thrust  of  Ravaillac  put  an  end  to 
all  the  hopes  of  Henri  de  Navarre,  with  his  life,  upon 
the  14th  day  of  May  in  the  year   16 10. 


INDEX 


Agen,  i8i,  203,  206,  207,  264,  270, 

271,  272,  273,  283 
Albret,  Henri,  d',  17,  18,  19,  25 
Albret,  Jeanne  d',  12,  17,  18,  20, 

21,  25,  26.  45,  47,  52 
Amboise,    Bussy    d',   42,   93,    108, 

109,    no.    III,    112,    137,     141, 

142.    145,    146,    151,    154,    155. 

163 
Ange,  or  Archange,  Pdre,  natural 

son  of  Marguerite,  234,  405 
AngoulSme,  Charles  Comte  d',  229 
Angoul^me,   Due  d',   48,   87.     See 

Auvergne. 
Anjou,  Due  d'.     See  Fran9ois 
Anjou,  Due  d'.     See  Henri  III. 
Antoine,  Due  de  Bourbon,  12,  17, 

18,  19,  21,  25,  26 
Aquaviva,  Anna  d',  183 
Arguedas,  28 
Armagnae,  124,  125,  182 
Amay-le-Due,  27 
Aubign6,  Agrippa  d',  30,  33,  35,  39, 

74,  124,  125,  126,  127,  129,  132, 

149,    150,    187,    200,    202,    236, 
250.  255,  261,  270.  359,  430 
Auvergne,  Comte  d',  48,  384,  399, 
See  Angouleme 

Babou,  Fran9oise,  335,  336,  337,  403 

Bassompierre,  29 

Bayonne,  26,  27 

B6am,  17,  53 

Beaufort,  Duehesse  de.    See  Estrdea 

Bellegarde,  330,  338,  349,  351,  352, 

353.  355.  403 
Bellidvre,  Pomponne  de,  264 
Bergier,  39 
Berthelot,  Marguerite,  36 


433 


Bertheret,  Diane  de,  Comtesse  de 
Monsoreau,  145 

Bertier,  Arehdeacon,  381 

Besme,  67 

Biron,  Mar^ehal  de,  179,  181,  182, 
209,  210,  310,  312 

Blois,  58 

Bouillon,  Due  de,  47 

Bourbon,  Cardinal  de,  60,  269,  309 

BourdaisiSre.     See  Babou 

Bourdeille,  Seigneur  de.  See  Bran- 
tome 

Brantome,  12,  42,  46,  71,  77,  141, 
175,  176,  179,  196,  252,  267 

Brissac-Cosse,  Marechal,  de,  loi,  132 

Bussy.     See  Amboise,  Bussy  d' 

Cahors,  203,  204,  206 
Calvinists,  66 

Canillae,  290,  291,  292,  293 
Carlat,  Fortress  of,  284,  286,   289, 

290 
Catherine  de  Bourbon,  20,  22,  137, 

148,    198,    209,    319,   321,    361, 

377 
Catherine  de  Medieis,  tactics  of, 
19  ;  her  fgte,  26  ;  her  death,  38, 
309 ;  her  sorcery,  45,  60  ;  her 
influence,  46 ;  and  Massacre  of 
Saint-Bartholomew,  49,  62,  65  ; 
and  marriage  of  Marguerite,  52  ; 
her  plots,  54,  70  ;  her  poisoning, 
60,  79,  132  ;  her  meeting  with 
Henri  UI.,  87  ;  and  La  Mole,  99  ; 
and  d'Alen9on,  132,  136,  163;  her 
journey  to  Navarre,  179;  and 
Huguenots,  186  ;  her  rebuke  to 
Navarre,  227,  228  ;  her  advice 
to  Marguerite,  265 

26 


434 


Index 


Cesar,  Due  de  Vendome,  36 
Champ vallon,  Harlay  de,  197,  217, 

223,  230,  233,  234,  235,  241,  244, 

245,  246,  385 
Charlemagne,  53 
Charles  IX.,  21,  22,  28,  41,  47,  48, 

49,  50.  52.  54.  57.  60,  61,  62,  65, 

66,  67,  70,  71,  73,  78,  79,  80,  86, 

97,  102 
Charles    de    Bourbon,    Comte    de 

Soissons,  151,  277,  282,  318,  319 
Charles  de  Teligny,  28 
Charrins,  51 

Chastelas,  Seigneur  de,  115,  116 
Chdteaubriand,  45 
Chateauneuf,  129 

Chateauneuf,  La  belle.     See  Rieux 
Choisinin,  285 

Clement,  Jacques,  38,  306,  309 
Clermont,  Antoine  de,  154,  155 
Clermont,  Louis  de.     See  Amboise, 

Bussy  d' 
Cldves,  Catherine  de,  57 
Cleves,  Duke  of,  18^  23 
Cleves,  Marie  de,  60,  78,  121.     See 

Conde 
Coconas,  M.  de,  84,  95,  105 
Coligny,  Admiral  Gaspard  de,  26j 

27,  28,  52.  54,  61,  65,  67,  75 
Colin,  39 

Conde,  Prince  Henri  de,  27,  28,  52 
Conde,  Prince  Louis  de,  14,  20, 26, 27 

60,  70-77.  97,  132.  135.  274,  277, 

278,  279,  280,  301,  302 
Conde,  Princesse  de,  60,  78,  121 
Conde,  second  wife  of  Prince  Henri 

de.     See  Tremouille 
Conti,  Prince  de,  277 
Conti,  Princesse  de.     See  Guise 
Corisande.     See  Gramont 
Cosse, Mar^chal,  ioi,etc.  5ceBrissac 
Crillon,  131 

Damville,     97,     215.     See     Mar6- 

chal  de   Montmorency. 
Dayelle,  183,  184,  185 
Diane  de  Poitiers,  41,  42 
Don  Carlos,  26 
Don  Juan  of  Austria,  165,  170,  171 


Dreux,  119 
Dupleix,  57 
Duras,  Vicomtesse  de,  271,  272 

Edict  of  Nantes,  325 
Egmont,  Comte  d',  313,  314 
Elizabeth,  Princess,  26,  41 
Elizabeth  of  Austria,  74 
Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  48, 

76,  77,  123,  242,  258,  312 
Entragues  d',  nicknamed  Bide,  51, 89 
Entragues,    Henriette    d',    34,    48, 

378,  389-405,  410,  420 
Entragues,   Meirquis   d',   387,    388, 

394.  399.  405 
Entremont,  Comtesse  d',  28 
Epemon,  Due  d',  243,  245,  257,  267, 

275.  276,  337,  419 
Essards,  Charlotte  des,  369 
Estr6es,  Gabrielle  d',  34,  36,  39,  40, 

46.  315.  324.  326-342,   346-368, 

,  371.  373-377 
Etampes,  Duchesse  d',  228 

Fay,  Seigneur  de,  30 

Ferrand,  268 

Ferte,  La,  116 

Fervacques,  126,  127,  131,  150 

Fleuranee.  182,  183 

Fleurette,  24 

Fontainebleau,  41 

Fosseuse.  See  Fran90ise  de  Mont- 
morency 

Fosseuse.  See  Fran9oise  de  Mont- 
morency. 

Fran90is  I.,  17,  18,  25,  41,  47 

Fran9ois  IL,  19,  21,  41,  48,  34 

Fran9ois,  Due  d'Alen9on,  Due 
d'Anjou,  his  training,  48 ;  his 
death,  49,  256,  267 ;  his  name, 
50;  and  Marguerite,  50,  156; 
and  Low  Countries,  51,  116  ;  and 
Massacre  of  Saint-Bcirtholomew, 
76 ;  his  confinement,  80,  85  ;  and 
Madame  de  Sauve,  86,  93,  141  ; 
his  Lieutenant-Generalship,  97 ; 
and  Bussy,  iii,  112,  151  ;  his 
allowance,  122,  135  ;  his  escape, 
123, 159  ;  and  Duo  d'Anjou,  135  ; 


Index 


435 


Francois,  Due  d'Alen^on  (contd.) — 
his  arrest,  152,  153  ;  and  release, 
155  ;  and  the  war  with  Hugue- 
nots, 165 ;  at  Issoire,  166 ;  in 
Flanders,  177, 242 ;  his  return  from 
Flanders,  211  ;  sovereign  of  Low 
Countries,  241  ;  his  illness,  244 

Gedeon,  36,  38 

Geneva,  74,  75 

Gondi,  Due  de  Retz,  47 

Gramont  et  Guiehe,  Comtesse  de, 

37,  38,  232,  250,  251,  258,  268, 

270,  280.  315,  318,  322,  323 
Guast,  Louis  Beranger  Du,  79,  86, 

88,  89,  90,  94,  108,  109,  no.  III, 

112,  113,  115,  120,  122,  125,  131, 

138.    139 
Guise,  Cardinal  de,  100,  308,  337 
Guise,  Due  Henri  de,  39,  42,  45,  48, 

52,  53.  54.  57.  58,  59.  62,  65,  66. 

67,  86,  88,  102,  125,  126,  147,  169, 

256,  268,  269,  273,  276,  280,  285, 
295.  308,  403 

Guise,  Mademoiselle  de,  Princesse 

de  Conti,  348.  349,  351,  378 
Guyenne,  17,  27 

Henri  II.,  17,  19,  41,  42 

Henri  III.,  his  murder  of  Conde,  27, 
70  ;  his  reconciliation  with  Henri 
de  Navarre,  38  ;  his  training,  48  ; 
and  Marguerite,  50,  59,  89  ;  and 
the  murder  of  Coligny,  65  ;  his 
mignons,  79  ;  his  return  to  France, 
87  ;  and  Du  Guast,  79,  93  ;  and 
La  Mole,  97  ;  and  Bussy,  109, 
141,  145;  and  Thorigny,  113, 
131  ;  and  Louise  de  Vaudemont, 
121  ;  and  d'Alen9on,  77,  132,  152, 
153,  212  ;  his  quarrel  with  Henri 
de  Navarre,  137  ;   and  fetes,  238, 

257.  275  ;  his  quarrel  with  Mar- 
guerite, 244,  245  ;  and  Ferrand, 
268  ;  and  the  Peace  of  Nemours, 
273  ;  his  flight,  308  ;  his  assas- 
sination, 310 ;  and  Gabrielle 
d'Estrees,  337,  346,  378  ;  and 
Bellegarde,  346-356 


Henri     IV.      See    Henri    de     Na- 
varre 

Henri  de   Navarre,    his  character, 
II.  12.  75,  344,  345  ;   his  appear- 
ance, 12,  343,  344  ;   his  birth  and 
parentage,  16,  18  ;    and  Mile  du 
Rouet.    19 ;     his  faith,    20 ;    his 
youth,  21,  22,  56  ;  his  mistresses, 
24 ;    his  battles,   27 ;    his  early 
amours,    24-26 ;     and    wife    of 
Pierre  de  Martines,  28  ;  and  Pro- 
testant remonstrances,  29  ;    and 
Madame  de  Sponde,  30 ;    King 
of  Navarre,  31  ;  and  Esther  Im- 
bert,    32-40 ;     King   of   France, 
38  ;    his  marriage  to  Marguerite, 
60  ;    attempt  to  nullify  his  mar- 
riage, 72  ;  and  Madame  de  Sauve, 
84,  124 ;  his  imprisonment,  85  ; 
his  release,  87;    his  illness,  112, 
197  ;  his  funds,  122  ;   his  escape, 
128  ;    confirmed  in  offices,  135  ; 
and  victories,    147 ;    and  Henri 
de  Guise,  147  ;  and  Mademoiselle 
de  Tignonville,  148;  and  Dayelle, 
183,     184 ;     his    pension,     186 ; 
and  Mile  de  Rebours,  195  ;    and 
Fran9oise  de  Montmorency,  197  ; 
his    relations    with    Henri    III., 
205  ;   at  Cahors,  206  ;   and  Com- 
tesse de  Gramont,  232.  250.  268, 
316;  his  reconciliation  with  Mar- 
guerite, 265  ;    his  public  avowal 
of  penitence,  278  ;  his  battle  with 
Joyeuse,  279  ;  his  letters  to  Cori- 
sande,  298-307,  322  ;    gives  as- 
sistance to  Henri  III.,  309  ;  King 
of    France,    310 ;     at    battle    of 
Arques,  311  ;    at  battle  of  Ivry, 
313,  314  ;  his  entry  of  Paris,  325  ; 
becomes   a   Catholic,    346,    348 ; 
Charlotte  des  Essards,  369  ;   nul- 
lity of  his  marriage,   382  ;     his 
marriage   to   Marie   de   Medicis, 
385,  401  ;    and  Henriette  d'En- 
tragues,    390 ;     and    Jacqueline 
de  Bueil,  406  ;   his  assassination, 
409,  431  ;  and  Charlotte  de  Mont- 
morency, 422 


436 


Index 


Henri-Robert,  Prince  de  Sedan,  Due 
de  Bouillon,  97 

Huguenots,  19,  21,  25,  28,  48,  50,  52, 
62,  65,  66,  80,  83,  95,  123,  132, 
140,  165,  173,  186,  211.  256,  325 

Ibois,  Chateau  de,  290 
Imbert,  Esther,  31-40 
Imbert,  or  Ymbert,  Jacques,  34 
Inchy,  Seigneur  d',  170 

Jaillot,  40 

James  VI.  of  Scotland,  afterwards 

James  I.  of  England,  317 
Jamac,  27 
Jourdan,  32,  37,  38 
Joyeuse,  Due  de,  243,  245,  257,  276, 

280, 337 

La  F6re,  172,  173,  253 

La  Gaucherie,  22 

La  Reole,  181,  183 

La  Rochelle,  25,  27,  28,  29,  30,  32, 

33.  34.  37.  38.  74.  76.  77.  95 
La  Rousse,  or  Arphure,  350,  351,  352 
League,  The,  39,  96,  147,  187,  257, 

268,  269,  273,  309,  371 
L6ran,  Vicomte  de,  69 
Lestoille,  Pierre  de,  102,  105,  319, 

404 
Lignerac,    Seigneur   de,    271,    273, 

274,  283 
Ligneroles,  62 

Limeul,  Mademoiselle,  19,  26 
Loches,  135 
Lomenie,  47 
Lorraine,  80 
Lorraine,  Cardinal  de,  20,  45,  54, 

72,  100 
Lorraine,  Due  de,  97 
Lorraine,  Claude,  Duchess  of,  68, 

69 
Lover's  War,  201,  202 
Louise  de  Chatillon,  28 

Marc6,  286 

Mzirguerite  de  Valois,  her  appear- 
ance, 12,  115  ;  her  character,  13, 
174. 175 ;  her  birth  and  parentage, 
41 ;  and  Prince  de  Martigues,  51  ; 


Marguerite  de  Valois  {contd.) — 
and  Montmorency,  61,  65,  95,  97, 
loi,  197  ;  and  Mongez,  62  ;  and 
Maurevert,  65,  95  ;  her  marriage, 
60  ;  attempt  to  nullify  marriage, 
72  ;  and  Vicomte  de  Turenne,  96, 
189,  190  ;  and  La  Mole,  95-106  ; 
and  Gillone  de  Thorigny,  113  ; 
has  erysipelas,  124, 165;  her  arrest, 
130 ;  her  relations  with  Fran- 
9ois  d'Alen^on,  50,  156,  159 ; 
and  Don  Juan,  165,  170 ;  her 
visit  to  Belgium,  165,  166 ;  and 
Seigneur  d 'Inchy,  170  ;  her  jour- 
ney to  Navarre,  179  ;  at  Agen, 
182,  271  ;  at  N6rac,  183  ;  and 
Champvallon,  197  ;  and  confisca- 
tion of  appointments,  208  ;  her 
return  to  Paris,  226  ;  gives  birth 
to  a  son,  234  ;  quarrels  with 
Henri  III.,  244,  245  ;  her  depar- 
ture from  Paris,  246  ;  her  recon- 
ciliation with  Henri  de  Navarre, 
265  ;  and  Philip  II.,  268  ;  and 
the  League,  269 ;  and  Seigneur 
de  Lignerac,  271,  273,  274,  286 ; 
at  war  with  Henri  de  Navarre, 
272;  at  Carlat,  284;  andMarce, 
286;  and  Aubiac,  286;  her  son 
by  him,  289  ;  at  Usson,  292  ; 
nullity  of  her  marriage,  370-372, 
379-382  ;  and  Claude  Francois, 
383  ;  her  return  to  Paris,  385  ; 
her  life  in  Paris,  411  ;  and  Date 
de  Saint  Julien,  414  ;  and  Ver- 
mont, 414 ;  and  Bajaumont, 
416  ;  her  death,  418 

Marie  de  Medicis,   385,   396,   401. 
407,  420 

Martigues,  Prince  de,  5 1 

Martines,  Pierre  de,  28,  29 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  20,  41,  46, 
48,53 

Massacre  of  Saint- Bartholomew,  49, 
61,  62,  65,  71 

Matignon,    Mardchal    Jacques    de, 
113,  268,  274,  277,  284 

Mayenne,  Due  de,   107,   108,    147, 
256,  309.  3".  313.  314 


Index 


437 


Michelet,  32,  34.  39 

Miossans,  80 

Mole.  La.  83,  95.  96.  97.  99.   100, 

102.  105 
Monceaux.  Marquise  de.  324 
Moncontour,  27 

Monsoreau,  Comte  de.  145.  146 
Montgomery.    Gabriel.    Comte    de 

Lorges,  19,  42 
Montmorency,  Fran9oise  de  (Fos- 

seuse).    197  200.   212,  213.  218. 

220,  226 
Montmorency,  Marechal  de.  132. 215 
Montpensier.  Duchesse  de,  309 
Momay-Duplessis.  35,  38,  313.  332. 

369.  379 
Mouy,  Seigneur  de.  65 

Nangay.  Monsieur  de,  69 

Navarre.  16 

N6rac,  17.  20,  22,  183.  186,  194.  207, 

208,  209,  225,  265,  268-274 
Nevers.  Duchesse  de,  loi.  102 
Noirmoutier,  Madame  de,  58,  86 
Noue,  La,  67,  95.  96 

Pangeas,  Comte  de,  150.  151,  319 
Pau,  17,  193,  194.  196,  213,  216,  217 
Peace  of  Amboise,  26 
Philip  II.,  21,  22,  26,  41,  171.  172. 

256.  268 
Pibrac,  189.  199,  205.  207,  208.  231, 

265 
Pin,  Jacques  Lallier.  Sieur  du.  193. 

194.  266 
Plessis-les-Tours,  38 
Poitiers.     See  Diane  de 
Poland,  77 

Politiques.  49. 65.  83,  95,  96, 123, 132 
Pominy.     See  Claude  Fran9ois 
Pons.   Antoinette  de.     See  Roche- 

Guyon 
Pope  Clement  III.,  380 
Pope  Pius  IX..  22 
Portugal,  King  of,  57 
Prat,     Guillaume    du.     Baron    de 

Viteaux,  138,  139.  140 
Queen-Mother's  Flying    Squadron, 

19.  26,  86.  136,  183 


Quelus,  142 

Rebours,  Mile,  214,  216 

Religious  wars.  19 

Rene.  45 

Rieux,  Renee  de,  48 

Roche-Guyon,  La  dame  de,  315,  317 

Rochefoucauld,  M.  de  la,  67 

Roquelaure,  127,  129 

Rosny.     See  Sully 

Rouen,  21,  25 

Rouet,  Mile  du.  19.  21,  26 

Rousseau,  Catherine,  34 

Ruggieri.  Cosmo,  102.  105 

Saint-Germain,  28 

Saint-Luc,  Seigneur  de,  107,  108 

Sardinia,  21 

Sauve,  Madame  de,  58,  84,  85,  86, 

88,   90,    93,    107,  124,  141,    163, 

183,  212, 239 
Savoy,  Duke  of,  325 
Senlis,  126,  127 
Simier,  Jean  de,  154,  i55 
Soissons,   Comte   de.     See    Charles 

de  Bourbon 
Sponde,  Jean  de,  30 
Sponde,  Madame  de,  30 
Sully.  Due  de.  199.  282,  319,  320, 

332.  359.  365.  375.  379.  39©,  392. 

407 
Suzanne  des  Moulins,  28,  29,  30 

T61igny,  Charles  de.  61.  67 
Thor6.  Seigneur  de.  96,  100 
Thorigny.  Gillone  de.  113.  114.  ^^S. 

119,  196 
Tignonville.  Madame  de.  148 
Tignonville.  Mademoiselle  de,  148. 

149.  150.  151.  199.  319 
Touchet,  Marie.  47.  87,  387,  388, 

389 
Tour  d'Auvergne,  Henri  de  la.  189, 

See  Turenne 
Tournon,  Mademoiselle  de,  172.  173 
Tremouille,  Charlotte  de  la,  second 

wife  of  Henri  de  Conde.  60 
Turenne.  Vicomte  de.  96,  98.  189. 

190,  197,  201,  217,  261,  276,  282 


438 


Index 


Ussac,  d',  183 

Usson.  58,  291,  370,  380,  383,  384 

Vanel,  58 

Varambon,  Marquis  de,  172 
Varenne,  Fouquet  la,  373,  374,  377 
Vaudemont,  Louise  de,  121,  256 
Vemeuil,  Marquise  de,  34,  etc.    See 

Henriette  d'Entragues 
Villars,  Duchesse  de,  403,  404 


Viteaux,  Baron  du. 
Voltaire,  38 


See  Prat 


War  in  Savoy,  396 

War  of  the  Barricades,  256 

Xainte,  201 

Ymbert,  or  Imbert,  Jacques,  34 

Zamet,  373,  375 


PrtMitdby  HomU,  IVatson  <S-  Vmey,  Ld.,  LottdoM  and  AyUibufy,  EngloMd. 


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